Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

It is very crucial for undergraduate students to spend time studying abroad or doing a work placement. The main reason being exploring the world and getting used to a work environment.

Students in undergraduate courses are fairly young adults who might have little to no experience in the real world. Travelling abroad even for just an exchange year can expose them to new challenges, new situations, new cultures and new people. It gives them a clear idea of how the world works and how to tackle crises. Doing a work placement helps them decide what type of job they would like to purse after graduation. They become familiar with deadline pressures, taking notes in a fast paced meeting and the overall office culture.

However, there are some downsides to this as well. Some students might not be physically fit to live and care for themselves alone. Mixing or indulging with the wrong group of people might turn a beautiful study abroad experience to a terrible one. Some work placements can be toxic or the interns might be treated poorly due to them being temporary employees.

Ultimately, with proper guidance and discipline studying abroad or doing a work placement is a good choice for undergraduate students.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You give relevant advantages and disadvantages and make your preference clear in the opening and conclusion: you consider the experience valuable “with proper guidance and discipline.” However, the task asks whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, and this comparison is only implied rather than explained. The benefits—cultural exposure, crisis management and career exploration—are relevant, but are mostly listed rather than supported with a specific example or fuller explanation. The drawbacks are also introduced, but their impact is not weighed against the benefits. The response is 45 words below the required minimum, which limits the space available to develop your reasoning. To strengthen the response, state explicitly why the benefits are more significant and support that judgement with a concrete example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, a paragraph on benefits, a paragraph on drawbacks and a concluding judgement. The progression from “The main reason” to “However” and “Ultimately” helps the reader follow the argument, and the examples within each paragraph are generally grouped by topic. This meets the lower-band expectation of coherent organisation and shows some effective control of progression. To move further, develop clearer links between the listed points and the central comparison. For example, explain how workplace experience or cultural exposure outweighs the risks of poor treatment or living independently. The opening fragment, “The main reason being…,” also interrupts the flow; connect it to the preceding sentence or recast it as a complete sentence.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for the topic, including “exchange year,” “deadline pressures,” “office culture,” and “temporary employees.” These choices communicate the main ideas clearly, and some topic-specific language adds useful detail. There are, however, several imprecise or awkward expressions: “purse” appears to be a spelling error for “pursue,” “mixing or indulging with the wrong group” is not a natural collocation, and “turn a beautiful study abroad experience to a terrible one” is awkwardly phrased. “Very crucial” is also unnecessarily emphatic. These issues do not prevent understanding, but more accurate collocations and a slightly wider range of precise academic phrasing would improve control. Review word forms and common verb-preposition combinations when editing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

You use a mix of simple and more developed sentence forms, and most of the message remains easy to understand. For instance, the sentence beginning “Travelling abroad even for just an exchange year…” develops several related ideas, while “Some work placements can be toxic” is concise and clear. Some grammatical issues remain. “The main reason being…” is a sentence fragment, and “turn … to a terrible one” needs a more suitable grammatical construction, such as “turn … into a terrible one.” The list “taking notes in a fast paced meeting” would also benefit from clearer parallel structure. These are occasional problems rather than barriers to communication. For greater accuracy, check that each sentence has a complete main clause and that linked items follow the same grammatical pattern.

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