Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-24

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)

Nowadays, some people believe that all undergraduate courses should include studying abroad or completing a work placement. I believe that the advantages of this apporach more than the disdvantages. I will discuss both views in the forthcoming paragraphs.

Highlight the first aspects, studying abroad or a work placement can provide several benefits. To begin with, students can gain partical knowledge and develop important professional skills. Instead of leaning only from books. They can understand knowledge and apply to relastic life. For example, business people learn how to commnuicate coustmers and how to manage them in real life. Moreover, studying aboard have a different tasks to gain their culture and environment. Therefore, it's is good for gain a knowledge and a chance to be a sucessfull man in the future.

Shifting to other aspects, studying abroad or a work placement can cause several negative affects. Firstly, studying aboard is way to expensive about they transport, food and rent. Secondly, studying abroad students too alone in different countries and its affect they nature and behaviour. For instance, different countries talk wit their own language and its way to difficult to understand what they teach in classroom. However, universtiy can reduces these problems by providing finanical assistance and offering local work placement as an alternative to studying abroad.

In conclusion, studying abroad and completing a work placement is very expensive. I believe that its helps studenst develop practical skills, become more independent and improve their employment opportunities after graduation.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You give a clear overall view that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, and you address both advantages and disadvantages. Relevant points include gaining practical skills, the cost of travel and accommodation, and possible difficulties adapting to another language and culture. However, the discussion is only partly developed: the example about business students is brief, and the claim that overseas study helps students become successful is not explained. Your conclusion also introduces independence and employment prospects without developing these points earlier. The response is 246 words, so it does not meet the required minimum of 250. To strengthen the response, explain each main point with a specific example and make the comparison between benefits and drawbacks more explicit.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, a paragraph on benefits, a paragraph on drawbacks, and a conclusion. Signposting such as “To begin with,” “Firstly,” and “In conclusion” helps readers identify the stages of the argument. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear. For example, “Moreover, studying aboard have a different tasks to gain their culture and environment” does not clearly connect to the preceding point about professional skills. Some linking phrases, including “Highlight the first aspects” and “Shifting to other aspects,” sound awkward or mechanical, and the conclusion does not fully draw together the earlier discussion. Use clearer topic sentences and connect each example directly to the point it supports.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You attempt vocabulary relevant to the topic, including “professional skills,” “practical knowledge,” “financial assistance,” and “local work placement.” These choices show an effort to discuss education and employment, but the range is limited and frequent spelling and word-choice errors sometimes make the meaning difficult to follow. Examples include “partical,” “relastic,” “commnuicate,” and “sucessfull”; “different tasks to gain their culture” is also an unclear expression. Some phrases are not natural in context, such as “a successful man” when referring generally to graduates. Build a bank of accurate topic vocabulary and check spelling carefully. Prefer precise expressions such as “gain practical experience” and “adapt to a different culture.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You use some simple sentences and attempt longer structures, including “However, university can reduces these problems by providing financial assistance and offering local work placement as an alternative.” However, the range is limited, and errors occur frequently in verb forms, agreement, articles, and sentence construction. For example, “studying abroad or a work placement can provide” is followed by the fragment “Instead of leaning only from books,” while “studying aboard have” and “university can reduces” show problems with subject–verb agreement and verb forms. “It’s is good” also contains an incorrect construction. These errors can make relationships between ideas harder to understand. Practise building complete sentences and checking each subject against its verb, while retaining a few accurate complex structures.

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