Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-30

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)

All university undergraduates courses should include a time to do internship or studying abroad to get hands on experience of the real world before they get graduated. It has prior advantages that may outweigh its drawbacks.

To begin with, if students has prior experience of real industry, they will become known of the demand of present world. This will boost their hunger of learning to compete with latest approaches. They may understand the real ground of battleship where they will enter in near future. If they have internship experience letter and have extraordinary skills they showcase, they may have job offers from the companies before graduation. This is the biggest advantage of including period for work placement. This will help in getting job faster and to get settled without facing unemployment phase. Students who performs well in their academics as well as in internships may get job offer at the end of graduation as many companies hunting real talent.

In contrast, those who may not like internships and consider this period as waste of time, may struggle a lot after graduation to find jobs. The recruiters may not interested to hire those graduates who has no prior knowledge and experience of real market. This may increase the ratio of unemployment and also affects mental health. They may also become burden on economy, as they unable to become a part in its development. This frustration and failure may lead to the disastrous side of the society.

In conclusion, workshops and internships are beneficial for graduates and may increase chances to get settled earlier than those who has entirely different perspective regarding this.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You take a position that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks and give relevant reasons, especially that placements can build industry knowledge and improve graduates’ job prospects. The discussion is focused on the topic, and the conclusion restates your view. However, the task asks about either studying abroad or doing a work placement, while your response concentrates almost entirely on internships; the study-abroad option is not explored. The disadvantages are also not clearly explained as disadvantages of making placements compulsory: the paragraph instead describes what may happen to students who do not undertake them. Develop a genuine drawback, such as cost, disruption to study, or unequal access, and explain why the benefits still outweigh it.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, a paragraph presenting benefits, a contrasting paragraph, and a conclusion. Linking phrases such as “To begin with,” “In contrast,” and “In conclusion” help signal the stages of the argument. The main ideas are generally arranged in a sensible order, so the overall progression is clear. However, some connections are mechanical or unclear. In particular, the contrast paragraph discusses the consequences of having no experience rather than the disadvantages of requiring a placement, which weakens the relationship between paragraphs. Repeated references such as “This” also leave some links vague. Make each paragraph’s central point explicit and use pronouns only when their reference is unmistakable.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “internship,” “work placement,” “recruiters,” “unemployment,” and “economy,” and you attempt more specific expressions such as “real industry” and “job offers.” This gives the response enough vocabulary to communicate its main argument. However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, sometimes making the meaning difficult to follow: “known of the demand,” “real ground of battleship,” and “disastrous side of the society” do not express the intended ideas clearly. There is also repetition of “job” and “experience.” Build precision by learning common academic collocations, such as “understand industry demands” and “gain practical experience,” and choose wording that directly expresses each point.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including conditional structures such as “if students has prior experience” and relative clauses such as “those graduates who has no prior knowledge.” These attempts show some range, and the main message is usually understandable. However, errors in agreement, verb forms, articles, and sentence construction recur. For example, “students has” should be “students have,” “who performs” should be “who perform,” and “may not interested” needs “may not be interested.” The opening phrase “undergraduates courses” also needs a possessive form. Review subject–verb agreement and modal verb patterns, then proofread each sentence for a complete, correctly formed clause. More accurate control of these structures would make your argument easier to follow.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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