Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-18

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 6.5)

Nowadays, many people beleive that university subjects should include a period of time for students to study in another country or to do internships. Although, this approach can create some financial and academic challenges for students, but I believe its advatages outweigh the disadvantages because it helps undergraduates to improve their practical skills and also improve their future career opportunity.

One of the main advantage of this approach is that students gets practical experience which help them to understand their courses more effectively. Universities mainly focuses on theoretical strategies, whereas practical work help them to understant how to implement those strategies in real life. For example, pupils who do internship in digital marketing agency can gain valuable pratical experience. During this period, students will understand how to conduct market research, how to communicate with clients, and how to manage social media marketing campaigns.These skills are difficult to get through theoretical study alone. Secondly, studying abroad allows student to understand international culture and allows them how to be independent. This may develop a better understanding how they implement their books knowledge into their real life work.

One the other hand, studying abroad can create financial challenges for some students if universities are not providing funding for transportation and accommodation. This can be challenging particularly for those students who belong to low-income families. Similarly, doing work placement along with studies can be challenging for students and may increase workload and leave them with less time to prepare for examinations.

In conclusion, although studying abroad or doing internships can be challenging for students to manage with their studies, I believe its advantages are greater, it allows students to gain practical experiences, develop personal skills and improve employment opportunities for their future.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

Your position is clear throughout: you believe the benefits of overseas study or placements outweigh the drawbacks. You address both sides and support the benefits with relevant examples, particularly the digital-marketing internship and the skills of market research and client communication. The financial burden and added workload are also appropriate disadvantages. This is a well-focused response with ideas extended and supported. To make the discussion more fully developed, explain more specifically how cultural exposure builds independence or improves career prospects; these points are mentioned but not illustrated as fully as the internship example. A clearer link between each supporting point and why the advantages outweigh the costs would also strengthen the argument.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction states your view, separate paragraphs discuss benefits and drawbacks, and the conclusion restates your position. The progression within the first body paragraph is generally logical, moving from practical experience to a concrete example. You also use signposting such as “One of the main advantage,” “Secondly,” and “On the other hand.” However, some connections are mechanical or unclear. For example, “This may develop a better understanding how they implement their books knowledge” does not clearly connect the cultural point to the preceding sentence. The introduction’s “Although … but” also creates an awkward link. Use more precise referencing and transitions, and ensure each paragraph develops one clearly connected line of reasoning.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range for the topic, including relevant terms such as “practical experience,” “market research,” “accommodation,” and “employment opportunities.” These choices help communicate your main ideas, and the digital-marketing example shows an attempt to use specific vocabulary. Some word choices and collocations are inaccurate or repetitive, however: “future career opportunity” is awkward, “books knowledge” is unclear, and “understand how to implement” is repeated in a similar form. There are also spelling errors, including “beleive,” “advatages,” “understant,” and “pratical.” These do not prevent understanding, but careful proofreading and more natural academic phrasing would improve precision and control.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including a concession in the introduction and a conditional clause in “if universities are not providing funding.” Meaning is generally understandable, but errors in agreement, articles, and sentence construction occur across the response. Examples include “One of the main advantage” and “students gets,” where singular and plural forms do not agree, and “Universities mainly focuses,” which has the same issue. The opening “Although …, but” combines two contrasting structures incorrectly, while “This may develop a better understanding how…” is missing a grammatical link. Aim to produce accurate basic clauses consistently, then check agreement and clause connections in longer sentences.

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