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 university undergraduate courses should include a period of time spent studying abroad or doing a work placement. Although this has some disadvantages as well as it has many advantages that can help in their practical lives. Students also gain practical experiences and develop their important skills.

One the one hand, studying abroad or working in a company can provide several benefits. At first, student gains the practical experience and knowlegde, he understand easily that how to go next step in future and work hard to get success in future. For instance, a student who employments in IT company, he easily learn how to make software or protect from cyber attack. Secondly, a student who studying in abroad. He learn about different cultures, improves his communication and alter his behaveriour. He get to success easily in future when he study in well university. As a result he may have better job opportunity in future.

On th other hand, It has several issues. The main problem is that studying abroad is costly because students have to pay expensive accomodation, food and transportation. Moreover, some students feel to homesick or uncomfortable in beginning. Work placements can take time away from the accademic studies.

In my opinion, these disatvantages are less significant than the benefits. Univerties provide students accomodations and financial support because students can studying easily without difficultes. So that students can learn practical experience and obtain job opportunities.

In the conclusion, although studying abroad or completing a work placements may create financial and personal challenges, i believe that experience can improve's practical life and achieve own their goal. We should focus on their aims and dreams, we should make plans before facing the challenges. We should work hard for what we want to become in life.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both the benefits and drawbacks and give a clear overall view in the introduction and conclusion: you believe the advantages are greater. Relevant points include practical experience, cultural learning, costs, homesickness and time away from academic study. However, the position and supporting ideas are not consistently developed. For example, the claim that students gain better job opportunities is repeated, while the example about an IT placement is brief and does not explain how the experience benefits students. The response also shifts into general advice about pursuing aims and dreams rather than directly evaluating the policy. Develop fewer points with specific explanation, and clarify how the benefits compare with the disadvantages. (18 words copied from the task prompt were not counted.)

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, separate paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. Basic signposting such as “On the one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “In my opinion” helps readers follow the main direction. However, progression within paragraphs is uneven, and some links are mechanical or unclear. The advantages paragraph moves from work experience to studying abroad and then to future success without fully connecting these points. The conclusion adds several broad statements about working hard and making plans, which do not clearly follow from the comparison. Use clearer topic sentences, connect each example directly to its main point, and make the conclusion summarise the argument rather than introduce new advice.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “practical experience,” “communication,” “financial support,” and “job opportunity.” This gives you enough language to communicate the main ideas, but the range is limited and several noticeable word-choice, word-form, and spelling errors make parts difficult to read. Examples include “knowlegde,” “employments in IT company,” “behaveriour,” and “disatvantages.” Some phrases are also unnatural, such as “learn practical experience” and “achieve own their goal.” Build accuracy with common academic collocations and check spelling and word forms carefully. More precise vocabulary would help you explain the benefits and challenges without repeating “future” and “success.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a concession in the opening and a contrast in the conclusion. However, the range is limited, and errors occur frequently in sentence construction, verb forms, agreement, articles, and punctuation. For example, “Although this has some disadvantages as well as it has many advantages” is not a complete, well-formed contrast, while “a student who studying in abroad” and “he understand easily” have faulty verb forms. The sentence beginning “For instance, a student who employments…” also lacks a clear grammatical structure. Practise forming accurate subject–verb–object sentences first, then add subordinate clauses. Check articles and verb agreement, and avoid joining several ideas with commas.

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