Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-11-04

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 5.0)

Many people belive that integrating undegraduate courses with a period of studying abroad or doing a work placement. I believe that the advantages of this would outweigh the disadvantages.

The main advantage is the market exposure of students will be increased and a lot more oppurtunities can be accessed. It would provide prior experience of real time work to the students will they are studying. For instance, the student doing internship in America would be familiar with alot more real world scenarios and oppurtunities.

In contrast, all the students may not be financially fit to afford the cost of studying abroad or doing a work placement. This can be handled by government by providing scholarships to the students and having agreement with the companies

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

Your position is clear: you believe the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, and you identify increased work exposure and affordability as relevant points. However, the response addresses the task only minimally: the benefits are asserted rather than explained in depth, and the disadvantage is mentioned briefly before a possible solution is offered. The example of an internship in America is relevant but does not show in detail how this experience benefits students or outweighs its costs. The response contains 116 words, so it is 134 words short of the 250-word minimum; eight words copied from the prompt were not counted. Develop both sides with specific reasoning and examples, and explain why your position follows from that comparison.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a basic paragraph structure: an introduction states your view, a paragraph presents a benefit, and a final paragraph introduces a disadvantage and a response to it. Linking phrases such as “For instance” and “In contrast” help signal relationships between ideas. However, there is little overall progression because each point is only briefly stated, and the final paragraph ends without a concluding sentence. Some connections are also unclear, particularly in “It would provide prior experience of real time work to the students will they are studying,” where the relationship between the ideas is difficult to follow. Build each paragraph around a clear main point, explain it, and use a conclusion to summarise your comparison.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “work placement,” “internship,” “scholarships,” and “real world scenarios.” These choices make the general subject understandable, and phrases such as “market exposure” show an attempt to use more specific language. However, the range is limited, and several spelling errors are noticeable, including “belive,” “undegraduate,” and “oppurtunities.” Some expressions are also imprecise or unnatural: “financially fit” would be better expressed as “financially able,” while “a lot more” is informal and repeated. Aim for accurate spelling and more natural collocations, such as “gain practical experience” and “access a wider range of opportunities.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, and the opening sentence communicates your position clearly. However, the range is limited, and errors occur often enough to make some sentences difficult to understand. In “Many people belive that integrating undegraduate courses with a period of studying abroad or doing a work placement,” the clause is incomplete because it has no main verb. “It would provide prior experience of real time work to the students will they are studying” also contains a faulty clause connection; use “while” and restructure the sentence, for example, “It would give students practical experience while they are studying.” The final sentence needs a full stop, and “agreement with the companies” needs clearer grammatical framing. Practise complete sentences and accurate clause linking.

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

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