Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-16

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)

Many would agree that projects and assignments are enough for university undergraduates but i have different opinion in this regard.From my perspective,all university undergraduates courses definitely include either a period of time spent studying abroad or doing a workplacement.

University students are mostly in late teens or early twenties.It is ideal age to start letting students experience life on their own to prepare them for their future.University courses mostly covers the academic aspect of professional life.There should be some practical experience added into the curriculum which later on help them professionally.Doint work placement related to their course will definitely prepare them from challenges ahead.Having an attachment in a relevant field under a senior professional will make learning and understanding the literature part more easy.For example,just studying how to draw a blood is different than having a practical experience of drawing blood under supervision.Similarly,studying any course of undergraduate study abroad also brings a lot of experience and independancy.Living alone,juggling daily chores alonside your studies prepare you for the upcoming life.

Apart from advantages,there are some downsides too.It is definitely a new experience to everyone and facing it very early on in your life might scares away student.Living abroad, if not funded, would financially drain you and to support your self yyou have to work part time too.Managing everything along with your studies is not everyones cup of tea and if it is made mandatory it would be difficult for special needs students too.

Overall,i think courses should include studying abroad and work placement opportunities in their curriculum but those should not be made compulsory.It's advantages definitely outweighs the disadvantages and prepares well in advance in aspect of career progress.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

Your position is clear: you support including these experiences, while concluding they should be offered rather than compulsory. You address both benefits and drawbacks, with relevant examples such as supervised blood-drawing practice and the financial pressure of living abroad. This covers the task well, but the argument is not fully consistent: the prompt proposes a period abroad or a placement, whereas the conclusion refers to both opportunities and rejects making them compulsory. Clarify whether you believe every course should require one option or simply provide opportunities. Some points, including the effect on students with special needs and the career benefits, are introduced but not explained in enough detail. Developing these with specific reasoning would make the response more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall shape: an introduction, a paragraph on benefits, a paragraph on disadvantages, and a conclusion. The progression from practical experience to independent living is generally easy to follow, and signposts such as “Apart from advantages” and “Overall” help identify shifts. However, some connections are mechanical or unclear. For example, “Similarly” introduces studying abroad after a work-placement example, but the relationship between the two benefits could be made more explicit. The final position also shifts from supporting inclusion to saying opportunities should not be compulsory, which weakens the overall progression. Use clearer links between each claim and its explanation, and make the conclusion restate the same position established in the introduction.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “curriculum,” “practical experience,” “under supervision,” and “financially drain,” which helps communicate the main ideas. There is also an attempt to use less common expressions such as “juggling daily chores.” However, inaccurate word choice, collocation, and spelling are noticeable and sometimes make the reader pause: “workplacement,” “Doint work placement,” “prepare them from challenges,” and “independency” are examples. Some phrasing is also imprecise, such as “the literature part” for the theoretical component of a course. Aim for accurate, natural combinations of words and check spelling carefully. A broader range of precise academic expressions would make the argument more flexible and fluent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including clauses with “which” and conditional phrasing such as “if not funded.” The main meaning is usually understandable, but errors in agreement, verb forms, articles, and sentence boundaries occur across the response. For instance, “University courses mostly covers” has a subject–verb agreement error, while “might scares away student” has an incorrect verb form and singular noun. In “Living alone, juggling daily chores alongside your studies prepare you,” the subject and verb do not agree. Capitalisation and punctuation are also inconsistent, particularly at sentence beginnings and around commas. Review these patterns and proofread each sentence; more accurate control of complex structures is needed for the next level.

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