Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-12

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)

Every university undergraduate courses should include time-period for studying abroad or doing an internship as this can help the students get familiar to new cultures and people and get them prepared for the future they want to build for themselves. However, the time and cost needed might limit the opportunities. In my opinion, the advantages of this would outweigh the disadvantages if taken with proper measurments.

On one hand, having courses for studying abroad or doing a placement can boost up one's confidence and social skills. Not only going do a different country to study can broaden up their mind but also an internship can make a person learn things practically and introduce them to the problems they might face in the real world while working. These can get them prepared for what career path to choose in the future. For example, Erasmus Mundus scholarship offers Masters program where a person can study in multiple European countries for 2 years. This helps them getting familiar to new cultures and peoples and broadens up their mind. Also many institues nowadays offers internship programs in their courseworks where students can get hands-on experience about working in the industry.

On the other hand, adding these extra courses can be frustrating for some students if they can't find any good workplace for internship or invest too much time in these that they stop spending time in their actual courseworks. Also, if studying in abroad costs money and students don't get financial aids for that, it might be inaccessible for many.

I think, if the government and authorities can come together to provide financial aids for the students going abroad, the advantages will outweight the disadvanatages. Furthermore, it will help the students learn more about the courses practically.

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 advantages outweigh the disadvantages if appropriate measures are taken. Relevant benefits include confidence, social skills, practical learning and career preparation, while you also identify cost and time as drawbacks. The Erasmus example and reference to university internships help illustrate your points. However, some ideas are asserted rather than fully explained: for instance, the effect of placements on career choice is mentioned but not developed, and the disadvantages could be weighed more directly against the benefits. The conclusion introduces government financial support, but the condition of “proper measurements” in the introduction remains vague. Develop each main point with a clearer explanation of its impact and connect it explicitly to your overall judgement.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure, with an introduction, separate paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and a concluding opinion. “On one hand” and “On the other hand” make the contrast easy to follow, and examples are placed alongside the relevant benefits. However, some linking is mechanical, and a few connections between ideas are not fully clear. The sentence beginning “Not only going do a different country” is difficult to follow, while “These” does not clearly identify whether it refers to studying abroad, placements, or both. The final paragraph also moves quickly from financial aid to practical learning. Use more precise referencing and explain how each sentence develops the preceding point to make progression smoother.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of vocabulary, including “social skills,” “practically,” “financial aids,” and “hands-on experience,” which helps communicate the main ideas. There are also attempts at more specific expressions such as “career path” and “real world.” However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, including “get familiar to,” “boost up,” “broaden up their mind,” and “invest too much time in these.” Spelling errors such as “measurments,” “institues,” and “outweight” also reduce accuracy. These issues do not prevent the reader from understanding the argument, but they limit precision and naturalness. Aim to learn common word partnerships and check spelling, especially in key terms used in the introduction and conclusion.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex structures, including a conditional in “if the government and authorities can come together” and a “not only…but also” construction. The overall meaning is generally understandable, but some grammatical errors occur in agreement, articles, verb forms and sentence construction. For example, “Every university undergraduate courses” has a mismatch between the determiner and plural noun, and “many institues nowadays offers” has subject–verb disagreement. “Not only going do a different country to study” is also structurally faulty, making the sentence harder to process. Review agreement and article use, and practise building parallel clauses after “not only…but also.” More accurate control of these patterns would make your varied sentences clearer.

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