Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-08

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 5.5)

The addition of courses which will provide an opportunity for university graduates to have a period of time spent studying abroad or doing an internship program.This essay aligns with the various advantages regarding this addition.The advantages of this statement will outweigh all the other disadvantages because learners will get the utmost practical knowledge about their desired fields.

Admittedly,university graduates generally tend to complete their graduation period in 4 long years.However, through these years of academic and book-based knowledge comes without the opportunities of having standard hands-on-knowledge and experiences which is one of the most crucial parts of their education.Furthermore,providing students a course of having a time-period of studying abroad with referred scholarship opportunities will assist them to clearer career goals and a proper guideline about their related departments.Moreover,learners will have the privillage to prove their capabilities through many internship programs as well.Both internship opportunity and studying abroad will give them a more rational and hands-on-experiences for their academic fields.

From my perspective it is essential to acknowledge the fact that,the advantages of having a scope to study abroad or work places will definetely outweigh the disadvantages.For instance, a student who is working hard on his studies does not get the opportunity to apply all of his bookish knowledge to his workplace environment may think that all of his academic sacrifices got wasted as he could not have the opportunity to be an expertise in his academic field.Additionally,he/she may get frustrated and demotivated towards his/her educational background.Consequntly,they will feel pressurised regarding their emplyment opportunities.Nevertheless,providing the mentioned opportunities will aid a learner to be confident,expertise,skillful and professional.

In conclusion,my overall perception will definetely align with the advantages of the provided opportunities as this will overlook all other disadvantages regarding this statement as it will help the students to be graduate with utmost experiences of practicality.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You take a clear position that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages and address both options in the prompt, discussing study abroad and internships. Relevant points include gaining practical experience, clarifying career goals, and becoming more confident and professionally prepared. However, some ideas are asserted rather than fully explained: for example, the claim that placements prevent students from feeling their academic effort was wasted needs a clearer link to the proposed course requirement. The disadvantages are also not directly examined, despite the question asking for a comparison. Develop one or two benefits with specific examples and acknowledge a realistic drawback, such as cost or disruption, before explaining why the benefits remain greater. The response meets the stated length requirement; nine words copied from the task prompt were not counted.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, two body paragraphs and a conclusion. Linking expressions such as “Furthermore,” “Moreover,” and “In conclusion” help signal movement between points. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes difficult to follow because several claims are joined without a clear explanation of how they connect. The second body paragraph, for instance, moves from a student’s workplace experience to frustration and employment pressure, then to confidence, without clearly distinguishing the cause-and-effect steps. Some transitions also feel mechanical, and the conclusion largely repeats the introduction. Organise each paragraph around one main idea, use clearer references to earlier points, and make the comparison between advantages and disadvantages explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You attempt a range of topic-related vocabulary, including “hands-on knowledge,” “career goals,” “internship programs,” and “employment opportunities.” These choices show awareness of the subject, but inaccurate word forms, spelling and collocations are noticeable and sometimes make the meaning less clear. Examples include “privillage,” “definetely,” and “Consequntly,” as well as the unnatural phrase “be confident, expertise, skillful and professional.” “Bookish knowledge” is also less suitable for a formal academic argument than a more precise expression. Build accuracy by checking spelling and learning common word partnerships, especially when describing skills and work experience. Prefer clear, natural phrasing over ambitious expressions that do not fit the sentence.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including clauses introduced by “because,” “which,” and “as.” However, control is inconsistent, and some sentence structures are incomplete or difficult to parse. The opening, “The addition of courses which will provide an opportunity…,” is a fragment rather than a complete sentence. In “through these years of academic and book-based knowledge comes without the opportunities,” the subject and verb relationship is unclear. There are also errors in articles, agreement and sentence boundaries, such as “a student … may think” followed by “they will feel,” and punctuation that runs clauses together. Practise building complete sentences with a clear subject and verb, then check agreement and punctuation, particularly in longer sentences.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.