Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-10

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 6.0)

A group of people argues that all university should include a period of time spent as a foreign student or worked as an emplyee, in undergraduate courses. The beneficial outcome of the aforemention concept is that students can experience the cultural exposure and gain valuable practical work experience, overshadows the drawback that students may lose interest in further study.

The merit of the topic is that students can explore the foreign culture. To explain it, learners can learn the different cultures when they go to the foreign countries for study. Moreover, when they meet the people from different country they can expand their knowledge. To give an example, according to a survey conducted by the BBC, it is found that, students who spend time in foreign, performed better in theri studies and also gained the cultural knowledge. Additionally, another advantage is that, students can gain practical knowledge about real life. If they work in entities for some time, they come to know about some real life valuable lessons. They also learn how to work with unknown people. To substantiate, the Oxford University report showed, how the students performed better in a company who gained the real work experience compared to those who directly joined in undergraduate after high school.

On the other hand, the drawback is that the students may lose interest to continue rest of the study. In some cases student who like the foreign environment, they starts living there permanently and did not came back to continue further study. Students who liked their job, they ignored the pending studies and continued their work. To quote an instance, according to the survey of the Harvard University, it is found that, the most of the people were stayed unemployed because of their incomplete education and they left the college due to their work or visit to foreign.

To conclude, this essay has shown how the benefits, cultural knowledge expansion and real life work experience eclipses the weaker side that student may lose interest in persue study with the quiestion in concern.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You address both sides of the question and state a clear view: the cultural and work-related benefits outweigh the risk of students losing interest in their studies. The two advantages are relevant, and examples such as learning to work with unfamiliar people help explain them. This meets the task well, while the clear overall position shows some of the stronger development expected at the next level. However, the disadvantage is less fully explored: students leaving to remain abroad or continue working is asserted, but the likelihood and consequences are not explained in depth. The cited surveys and reports are also presented without enough detail to show precisely how they support your claims. Develop each main point with a clearer cause-and-effect explanation and a specific, credible example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a coherent overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph on advantages, a paragraph on disadvantages, and a conclusion. Signposting such as “Moreover,” “On the other hand,” and “To conclude” makes the direction of the argument easy to follow. This clear progression shows some of the flexibility associated with stronger organisation. At times, however, linking feels mechanical, with repeated formulae such as “To explain it,” “To give an example,” and “To substantiate.” Some connections within sentences are also awkward, and references such as “the topic” and “the question in concern” are not precise. Use fewer formulaic transitions and make the relationship between each claim, explanation, and example more direct.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You attempt a range of topic-related vocabulary, including “cultural exposure,” “practical work experience,” and “undergraduate courses,” and the main ideas remain understandable. There are also attempts at more formal phrasing, such as “To substantiate.” However, word choice and collocation are often inaccurate or unnatural, including “foreign student,” “in entities,” “real life valuable lessons,” and “the weaker side.” Spelling and word-form errors such as “emplyee,” “theri,” and “persue” further reduce precision. This fits a limited but usable range: meaning is generally recoverable, but noticeable errors sometimes make the reader work harder. Prioritise accurate, natural collocations and proofread spelling before trying to use more elaborate expressions.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including conditional clauses such as “If they work in entities for some time” and relative clauses such as “students who spend time in foreign.” However, complex constructions are often faulty, and errors occur across verb forms, agreement, articles, and sentence structure. For example, “they starts living there” has an agreement error, while “did not came back” uses the wrong verb form after “did.” The opening sentence is also difficult to parse because its main clause is incomplete or awkwardly constructed. These errors can make some points harder to follow, despite the overall message being clear. Practise building accurate sentences with one main clause and a subordinate clause, then check subject–verb agreement and verb forms.

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