Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-06

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

All university undergraduate courses should include a period of time spent studying abroad or doing a work placement.

Do you think the advantages of this would outweigh the disadvantages?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.0)

The impact of studying abroad or doing a work placement can not be judge from a single perspective. Although it brings certain advantages, such as practical experience, communication skill and gain knowledge about new culture. It also creates challenges namely, cost, time, accessibility, that are difficult to ignore. Examining both sides is therefore essential to understand its overall influence.

One of the most significant advantages of studying abroad is that it opens new door for every student who are interested for higher education. A key positive aspect of this trend is its ability to develop practical skills. This means that classroom-based learning, work placements allow students to apply their academic knowledge to real-world situation, which can lead to solve any problem and deal with anything. For example, a business student who works for a company can learn how to communicate with colleagues, making it easier for group to achieve new opportunity.

Despite these benefits, higher education or doing a work placement also presents several notable disadvantages. One major concern is that high cost, which may result in financial and practical difficulties for some student. In some cases, students from low-income families may therefore be unable to participate on equal terms with wealthier students, causing impact on the poor students.

In conclusion, studying abroad has both clear advantages and unavailable disadvantages. While it can establish a students life, it may also create difficulties for low class learners. Overall, the impact of this trend largely depends on how is it managed.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of studying abroad or doing a work placement, but the overall development remains limited and under-developed. Furthermore, the length requirement is not met, as the response falls short of the minimum two hundred and fifty words. While a position is presented in the introduction, it is not consistently maintained or fully supported throughout the body paragraphs. For example, the discussion on practical skills is cut short with vague generalisations such as 'lead to solve any problem and deal with anything', lacking specific, well-reasoned support. To improve, you need to expand your ideas fully, ensure every part of the prompt is thoroughly explored with concrete examples, and strictly meet the minimum word count.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt to structure the response into an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different arguments, such as separating advantages from disadvantages. However, cohesion at times feels mechanical or faulty. For instance, transitional phrases like 'Despite these benefits' and 'In conclusion' are present, but referencing and logical progression within paragraphs are sometimes unclear, as seen in the sudden shift between ideas in the second paragraph. To reach the next level, you should ensure that cohesive devices are used more flexibly and that the logical progression between sentences and ideas is smoother and more transparent throughout.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate to communicate the basic points of the essay. There are noticeable errors in word choice, word form, and collocation that occasionally cause difficulty for the reader, such as 'can not be judge' instead of judged, 'gain knowledge' instead of gaining knowledge, and 'low class learners'. You attempt to use less common items like 'accessibility' and 'financial and practical difficulties', but these attempts are often accompanied by inaccuracies. To improve your lexical score, you need to broaden your range of vocabulary, pay closer attention to word forms and collocations, and use precise terminology naturally without committing frequent vocabulary errors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The grammar demonstrates a limited range of structures, relying mostly on simple sentences alongside attempts at complex forms that are frequently faulty. There are noticeable errors in verb forms, subject-verb agreement, and articles throughout the text, such as 'student who are interested', 'high cost' instead of high costs, and 'how is it managed' instead of how it is managed. These frequent errors cause some difficulty and hesitation for the reader. To achieve a higher band, you must incorporate a wider variety of complex sentence structures with greater accuracy, ensuring better control over basic grammatical patterns, plurals, and punctuation.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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