Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-11

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)

All universities should add a special timeline for undergraduate students to spend a specific time in studying from a foreign country or in a practical job. Although it have little disadvantages like financial burden or academic time loss, I believe advantages like international exposure or practical skills development are significant.

Looking at the drawbacks, studying at foreign universities is a financial burden.Not every student of a university can efford the cost the fee of admission, visa or airplane ticket. Moreover, when students spend too much time in doing a word placement, they may not complete thir main university courses which are compulsory. As a result, their degrees may be complete late and eventually loss of time happen. For intance, in Aisa, bachelors degree takes 4-year to complete, if a student do a internship for even 3 months, then will cannot complete their degree in 4 years.

Conversily, when a student go for a developed country for their higher education, he can get a chance to meet with international students and professors, from whom he can get latest knowledge of his field. Developed countries have good research labs in his universities, so, he can reseach at that labs related to his interest. Furthermore, if a student spend some of their time in doing a practical job related to his courses in a company, he can develop practical skills which eventually helps him to get a good job after graduation.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall6.0

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both sides of the question and state a clear view: the benefits of international exposure and practical skills are significant despite financial and academic costs. The examples about fees and a three-month internship make the disadvantages relevant, while meeting international students and gaining workplace experience support your position. However, some points are not fully developed. In particular, the claim that an internship would prevent a student from finishing a degree in four years needs explanation, since placements could be scheduled within a course. The advantages paragraph also gives general claims without a specific example. The response is 12 words below the required minimum, which limits the space available to develop these ideas.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a coherent overall arrangement: an introduction presents your position, followed by a paragraph on disadvantages and one on advantages. Signposting such as “Looking at the drawbacks” and “Furthermore” helps readers follow the main direction. However, the essay ends without a concluding paragraph that restates your judgement, so the overall argument feels unfinished. Some links between ideas are mechanical, and a few references are unclear—for example, “that labs” does not clearly connect to the earlier mention of research labs. Develop a more explicit progression within each body paragraph, and use a brief conclusion to bring the comparison back to whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “financial burden,” “international students,” “research labs,” and “practical skills,” and the intended meaning is generally understandable. There are also attempts at more specific expressions, such as “academic time loss.” However, inaccurate word choice, spelling, and collocation are noticeable and sometimes make the reader pause: “efford,” “word placement,” “latest knowledge,” and “loss of time happen” are not natural or accurate in context. Some wording is repetitive, particularly the repeated use of “student” and “developed countries.” Build accuracy with common academic collocations and check spelling; this will make your adequate range more precise and natural without requiring unnecessarily complex vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex forms, including a concessive opening (“Although…”) and a conditional example (“if a student…”). Most of the argument remains understandable, but some grammatical errors occur in verb forms, agreement, articles, and sentence construction. For example, “Although it have” should be “Although it has,” and “when a student go” needs “goes.” The sentence beginning “if a student do a internship” also has several agreement and article problems, while “then will cannot complete” is not a valid verb construction. Punctuation is occasionally missing after sentence boundaries, as in “financial burden.Not.” Practise accurate conditional sentences and proofread for subject–verb agreement and sentence boundaries.

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

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