Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-22

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 5.0)

Nowadays, many people nelieve that all university undergraduate courses should include a period of stuyding abroad or doing a work placement. Although this idea has some disadvantages, I believe that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages because students can gain pratical experience and develop useful skills.

On the one hand, there are a number of benefits of students can gain pracical experience and improve their skills. First of all, gain practical work experience more improtant to students teir life. because it is improve their skills and most of work learn. studying abroad or doing a work placement can provide students with valuable pratical experience. I think many students learn to about how to skills provide their life. because it can be help abroad their lots of help and skills need to must be. it can helps all improve communication skills. because most of the main point aborad students life communication because it can be more help their life.some of the students need to develop teamwork skills.it more then more improtant. most of the students abroad going to their dream country for higher study it can be learn about different cultures. meet to different foreging people it improve their skills. As a result. they can improve their get better job opportunities. Moreover, studying in another different culture and become more independent. Therefore, these experiences can help students find better job opportunities in the future

On the other hand, there are some disdavantages to this idea. Firstly, studying abroad can be expensive because students need to pay of accommodation, food and transportation. For example, many students going to aborad their higher study that time most of the big problems financial pressure on families. because it is more big problam. sometime feel homesick did not any people help aborad students. However, scholarships and local work placements can help to reduce these problems. Therefore, the disadvantages can be managed.

In conclusion, although studying abroad or doing a work placement can be expensive and challnging, I believe that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages because students can gain valuable experience and improve their future career opportunities.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You give a clear answer to the question in the introduction and conclusion: you believe the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. You also address both sides, mentioning practical experience, skills, employment prospects, costs, and homesickness. However, the supporting ideas are uneven and often difficult to follow. For example, the point about communication and teamwork skills is repeated without explaining how a placement develops them, while the disadvantage paragraph gives more specific examples of financial pressure and homesickness. Develop each main point with a clear explanation or relevant example, and make the comparison between the benefits and drawbacks more explicit. The response meets the stated length requirement; the nine words copied from the task prompt are excluded from the count.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, paragraphs presenting advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. Transitions such as “On the one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “In conclusion” help signal these sections. However, progression within the advantages paragraph is weak: several ideas about skills, communication, culture, and employment are joined together without clear links, and some sentences are difficult to interpret. Connect each supporting point directly to the main idea and use shorter, logically ordered sentences. Repeated connectors such as “because” and “Therefore” sometimes feel mechanical, while punctuation and sentence boundaries make the flow less clear. Clearer paragraph development and more precise referencing would make the argument easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “practical experience,” “communication skills,” “teamwork skills,” “financial pressure,” and “homesick.” These choices show an attempt to discuss both educational and personal effects. However, the range is limited and many words or phrases are repeated, particularly “skills,” “help,” and “students.” Frequent spelling errors, including “stuyding,” “improtant,” and “disdavantages,” also make the writing less clear. Some expressions are not natural or precise, such as “learn to about how to skills provide their life” and “going to their dream country.” Build a wider set of accurate collocations for work placements, independence, and costs, and check spelling and word forms carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a concession in “Although this idea has some disadvantages” and a contrast introduced by “On the other hand.” However, control of sentence structure is inconsistent, and many sentences contain errors that make the meaning difficult to understand. For example, “there are a number of benefits of students can gain” combines incompatible structures, while “because it is improve their skills” has an incorrect verb form. Other problems include missing or incorrect articles, agreement, and sentence boundaries, as in “sometime feel homesick did not any people help.” Practise building complete sentences with a clear subject and verb, then check verb forms and punctuation. More accurate simple sentences should come before adding complex structures.

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