Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-14

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)

In recent years, universities are incouraging undergraduate students to take wide range of subjects. All universities should force students to take a works placement or a period of time spent studing abroad to complete their undergraduation degree. Although, it may have some brackdraw. However, I firmly belive that advantages of this would outweight the disadvantages.

Some may argue that everyone don't have the financial freedom to pursue their study in a foreign country. They may feel left-out due to that. I think universities should give these opportunities based on grade or competetive exam. Main problem with the work placement is that students may feel pressure to land up on a job to get the degree. Fail to get either studing abroad or work placement may lose the degree. University should provide the guidance to students for the work placement as well as studing overseas programs.

Studing abroad helps students to meet new people, learing about new culture also provide a new job market and layout a path for the new opportunities. All the STEM sectors should have mandatory work placement to get the degree. Engineers and doctors should work experience before graduation. It will help them to focus more on studies and they can learn how to use their theoritical knowledge to the practical knowledge. My undergraduation degree had work placement program which helped me to get my first job. Those went for the internship program in a company, all of them get their job before graduation.

In conclusion, studing abroad helps students to the new job market, provide new oppotunities and work placements contribute students to gain real world experience. I belive although these changes may have backdraws but overall advantages outweight the disadvantage. Addition to that university may include research program.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

Your position is clear: you believe the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, and you address both study abroad and work placements. The discussion of financial access and pressure to secure a placement gives the opposing view some relevance, while your personal experience—“My undergraduation degree had work placement program”—supports your case. This meets the task well, but the two sides are not developed equally: the disadvantages are mentioned briefly, and the suggestion to allocate opportunities by grades or exams is not explained. The claim that all STEM courses should require placements also narrows the argument without addressing whether every undergraduate course should include one. Develop these points and explain more fully why the benefits outweigh the costs to make the response more complete and persuasive.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, a paragraph on concerns, a paragraph presenting benefits, and a conclusion. This gives the reader an overall route through your argument. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes abrupt. For example, the discussion moves from financial access to competitive exams and then to the risk of losing a degree, without clearly showing how these points connect. The phrase “Although… However” repeats the contrast, and “Addition to that” introduces a final idea that is not developed. Use linking expressions more selectively, and organise each body paragraph around one main point, followed by explanation or an example. Clearer references between ideas would also help the argument flow more smoothly.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “financial freedom,” “work placement,” “job market,” and “theoretical knowledge,” and your meaning is generally understandable. There are also attempts to express more specific ideas, such as students feeling “left-out” and gaining “real world experience.” However, spelling and word-choice errors are noticeable and sometimes make the reader pause: “incouraging,” “brackdraw,” “outweight,” and “oppotunities” are examples. Some combinations are also unnatural, such as “layout a path for the new opportunities” and “contribute students to gain.” Build accuracy with common academic collocations and check spelling carefully. A more precise vocabulary range would help you express the benefits and drawbacks without relying on repeated general terms such as “help” and “new.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a concession in “Although, it may have some brackdraw” and a relative clause in “Those went for the internship program in a company.” However, control is inconsistent, and errors in agreement, articles, verb forms, and sentence construction sometimes make the meaning less clear. For example, “everyone don't have” has incorrect agreement, while “Fail to get either studying abroad or work placement may lose the degree” lacks a clear subject and has an awkward verb pattern. “Engineers and doctors should work experience” is also missing a verb. Practise building complete sentences with an explicit subject and correctly matched verb, and review articles and plural forms. Punctuate contrast structures carefully rather than separating “Although” from its main clause.

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