Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-11-03

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)

Undergraduate university courses must have some form of internship or apprenticeship in another country.

Perks of having this kind of work and study experience surpasses the downsides of it.

Such experience gives you the right kind of aid needed for pursuing the future career plans that one may have, moreover, it exposes you to diverse ethnicities that leads to developing social skills necessary to navigate in social and academic settings.

Other than this it also gives you experience early on in your career with gives you a head start all this may sound very minor but it helps a great deal when you actually enter the practical world either as an entrepreneur or by joining any job.

Obviously every good thing comes along with some kind of downsides to it and while it seem to be all rainbow and sunshine there may be certain aspects to it which might not be beneficial to every student.

Being financially strong has to be the building brick in going overseas and not everyone can afford the expenditures for it.

While it does posses alot of benefits and may be included in the courses, it must not be made a compulsory requirement so the univeristy course is easily available to all without making anyone think of themselves as inferior.

I and my classmates participated in Asia Pacific Moot court competition whichwas held outside our country, in Singapore, while this experience helped us immensely in our real life court experience but those who couldn't afford to go didnot feel any burden to cpmply neither did it affect them academically.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

Your position is clear: you believe the benefits are substantial, but overseas placements should not be compulsory because this could disadvantage students who cannot afford them. You address both advantages and disadvantages, and the moot court example gives your argument a relevant personal illustration. This meets the task well. However, the response shifts from arguing that advantages outweigh disadvantages to proposing that participation should be optional, without fully explaining how that conclusion answers the question about including a period abroad in all courses. The career benefits and development of social skills are also asserted more than demonstrated. To strengthen the response, explain how universities could preserve the benefits while addressing unequal costs, and develop each main reason with a specific consequence or example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable progression: it presents benefits, acknowledges financial drawbacks, and ends with a personal example. This gives the reader an overall route through your argument. However, several ideas are crowded into long sentences, particularly the sentence beginning “Such experience gives you…” and the one starting “Other than this…”. The connection between the claim that advantages outweigh disadvantages and the later recommendation against making placements compulsory is not made explicit. Some linking phrases, such as “Other than this” and “Obviously,” feel mechanical, while the final example arrives without a clear transition. Use separate paragraphs for benefits, drawbacks, and your example or conclusion, and make the relationship between each point and your overall position explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a range of relevant vocabulary, including “diverse ethnicities,” “social skills,” “practical world,” and “academically,” so the topic is generally clear. There are also attempts at more expressive phrasing, such as “a head start.” However, several choices are informal or imprecise for an academic essay: “Perks,” “all rainbow and sunshine,” and “building brick” do not fit the register or intended meaning naturally. Word-choice and spelling errors, including “possess” for “possesses,” “univeristy,” and “cpmply,” are noticeable and reduce accuracy. Aim for precise academic collocations and check spelling carefully; for example, describe the financial “barrier” or “cost” rather than using an unclear metaphor.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including a conditional idea (“while this experience helped us…”) and clauses explaining the benefits. This shows some range, but control is uneven, and several sentences contain errors that make relationships between ideas harder to follow. For example, “Perks … surpasses” has a subject–verb agreement problem, and “it exposes you to diverse ethnicities that leads” has a mismatch between the relative clause and its subject. The sentence beginning “Other than this” also lacks clear sentence boundaries and contains “with gives.” Review agreement, verb forms, and punctuation, especially when joining several clauses. Breaking long sentences into shorter, complete units will help you express complex ideas more accurately.

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

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