Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-26

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)

Requiring undergraduates to study abroad or undertake a work placement has both benefits and drabacks, but I believe the advantages are far more significant.

The primary advantage is improved employability. Most graduates struggle to find jobs because they lack practical experience.A work placement allows students to apply classroom theory to real problems, develop professional skills and buid industry contacts. Graduate with internship experience get jobs faster. A CS student doing a 3-month internship at a software house learns more than a 1 year of theory. Studying abroad make you independent, cinfident. Better employability like Companies prefer graduate with real-world experience also cultural understanding.

However, there are two main disadvantages. First cost, Studying abroad is expensive, not everyone can afford. Creates inequality between people. like If you're rich you can afford study in abroad and get better oppertunities rather you're not rich.

not all courses need it. Like Islamic Studies, Local law-foreign placement is irrelevent. Universities also struggle to find placements for thousands of students.

In conclusion, although there are financial and practical challenges, the long-term career and personal benefits are much greater. Therefore, the advantages of mandatory placements or study abroad periods do outweight the disadvantages.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

Your position is clear: you believe the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, and the conclusion restates this view. You address both sides, identifying employability and independence as benefits, and cost, course suitability, and placement availability as drawbacks. However, the ideas are only partly developed: the software internship example is relevant, but the comparison with a year of theory is asserted rather than explained, while the points about inequality and course relevance receive little support. The response also contains 196 words, below the required 250, so there is not enough space to develop the argument fully. Extend each main point with explanation or a specific example, and clarify why the benefits outweigh the costs for all students.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, a paragraph on advantages, a paragraph on disadvantages, and a conclusion. This helps the reader follow the overall argument. However, progression within paragraphs is uneven, and several ideas are presented as fragments or abrupt additions, such as “Studying abroad make you independent, cinfident” and “Better employability like Companies prefer graduate with real-world experience.” The disadvantage paragraph also moves quickly from cost to inequality, course relevance, and university capacity without clearly linking these points. Use complete sentences and connect each claim to the next with clear explanation; for example, show how high costs can restrict access and thereby create inequality. More deliberate paragraph development would make the organisation feel less list-like.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “employability,” “practical experience,” “professional skills,” “industry contacts,” and “inequality.” These terms help communicate the main ideas. However, the range is limited and several spelling or word-choice errors reduce precision, including “drabacks,” “buid,” “cinfident,” “oppertunities,” and “outweight.” Some phrases are also unnatural or unclear, such as “better employability like” and “study in abroad.” Aim for accurate, natural collocations and check spelling carefully. You could use expressions such as “gain a competitive advantage in the job market” or “access to placement opportunities” to express ideas more precisely, while avoiding repeated reliance on basic terms such as “better” and “get.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple statements and longer sentences, and the overall meaning is usually recoverable. However, the range of sentence structures is limited, and errors occur frequently in verb forms, agreement, articles, and sentence boundaries. Examples include “Graduate with internship experience get jobs faster,” “Studying abroad make you independent,” and “not everyone can afford,” where the subject or verb pattern is incomplete or incorrect. The sentence beginning “A CS student doing a 3-month internship” also needs a clearer comparison structure. Capitalisation and punctuation are inconsistent, particularly in “First cost, Studying abroad is expensive” and the run-on sequence beginning “Better employability.” Practise building complete sentences with accurate subject–verb agreement, and use a wider range of controlled complex structures to explain causes and results.

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