Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-22

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Nowadays many large international companies offer their staff the opportunity to spend a period of time living and working in another country.

Why might this opportunity be good for employees?

What advantages does this development have for companies?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Nowadays, many large international companies offer their workers the opportunity to spend a period of time living and working in another country. Although it offers many benefits it also has some disadvantages.

On the one hand, these opportunities are good for employees because they can improve their professional skills and have the opportunity to learn a new language. For example: an employee who works in another country can learn new working methods, and gain international experience and communicate with people from different cultures. Therefore, employees can become more qualified and have the chance to get a better job in the future.

On the other hand, these opportunities are beneficial for companies because they can improve their productivity and become more competitive in the international market. For instance : employees who work abroad can learn new skills and discover different working methods. When they return to their home country, they can share their knowledge with their colleagues. As a result, the company can improve it performance and increase it profits.

In conclusion, these opportunities to spend a period of time living and working in another country that they gave to their staff are essential to increase profuctivity in the company. But the also have many difficulties like language barriers, the difficult adapting.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You address both questions: employees may develop professional skills and learn a language, while companies may benefit from improved productivity and knowledge-sharing. These are relevant points, but they are only briefly explained, and the response does not fully develop the advantages for either group. The introduction also mentions disadvantages, and the conclusion refers to language barriers and adaptation difficulties, although the task asks specifically about benefits; this leaves the focus less clear. The response contains 185 words, which is 65 words below the required minimum; 26 words copied from the task prompt were not counted. This shortfall limits the space available to explain your ideas and provide a relevant example. Develop each advantage with a specific explanation or example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, separate paragraphs for employees and companies, and a conclusion. The signposts “On the one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “As a result” help readers follow the main points. However, the progression is quite mechanical, and the conclusion introduces difficulties that have not been developed in the body paragraphs, weakening the overall focus. Some links between claims are also abrupt: for example, the employee paragraph moves from learning new methods to becoming qualified and getting a better job without explaining the connection. Build clearer links between each reason and its outcome, and make the conclusion summarise the benefits already discussed.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “professional skills,” “international experience,” “working methods,” and “competitive in the international market.” Some repetition, particularly of “opportunity,” “employees,” and “working,” limits the range, while a few word choices or forms are inaccurate: “improve it performance,” “increase it profits,” and “profuctivity.” The phrase “the difficult adapting” is also unclear. These errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the general message, but they reduce precision and naturalness. Aim to use a wider range of accurate business-related expressions and check spelling and possessive forms carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use both simple sentences and some more complex forms, such as “Although it offers many benefits it also has some disadvantages” and the conditional-style example beginning “When they return to their home country.” Most ideas remain understandable. However, control is uneven: the opening “Although” clause needs a comma before the main clause, and “the opportunities … that they gave to their staff” has an unclear relative clause and tense. In “the also have many difficulties,” the subject and verb construction is faulty, while “the difficult adapting” does not form a grammatical phrase. Practise accurate clause construction, articles, and possessive forms, and proofread punctuation so that complex sentences remain clear.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.