Many people believe students would benefit from spending some time away from studying between secondary school (high school) and university. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the above statement?
Sample Response
People have differingdivided opinions about taking a break before starting university. Some consider that pausing their studies for a perioddiscontinuing studies for some duration is advantageous for students and they favour this approach. However, I do not agree with this outlook and prefer completing the course of educationentire process of education without any lengthylonger interruption. In this essay, we will analyse how the personal and professional lives of students may be affected ifstudents are afflicted, if they decide to halt their studies for a year or so.
To begin with, many pupils opt to takeopt for taking a break between school and universitya gap between school and university qualifications. By doing so, many students can lose interest in joining back and enjoy continuing the activity undertaken by them in break time. These students can still find employmentget employed but the prospects of building a successful careerchances of getting a better career are reduced. Thus, it is apparent that taking a break from studies can affect their future careerupcoming professional life. For instance, I personally know a few students from my hometown, who, despite being bright students, took a gap year before starting university and was misguided that a university education is not required for a great career. They decided to continue with their jobs instead of starting university. As a result, none of them has a good career now. It might be true that some billionaires never finished their university education, but they are exceptions, not the rulethey are not examples, but expectations.
Moreover, some students might still be able to continue their studies after returning from a breakcoming back from break, but a great deal of time has already been wasted. Consequently, they will lag behind others who are already further ahead at universityahead of them in university. Some may find it difficult to concentrate on their studies because of the long gap. Therefore, the harmharms of interrupting education for a periodhalting education in between for some intervals are difficult to dismissdebunk.
After analysing the areas of professional and personal development of students choosing to pause their studiesopting for leave in studies, it is clear that this decisionthis particular concept can constrain their growth. As has been proven, students should avoid taking a gap year between school and universityshould not prefer taking a year gap between school and university educations.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response states a clear disagreement and develops a coherent case around loss of academic momentum and weaker career prospects, including a relevant personal example. Its main limitation is persistent awkward or inaccurate phrasing, alongside some overgeneralised conclusions; the priority is to express the same reasoning with natural collocations and tighter grammatical control while acknowledging that the claimed risks may not apply to every gap-year student.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The position is clear throughout, and the main disadvantages are relevant and developed through explanation and an example.
Qualify the categorical claims and explain why the risks outweigh potential gap-year benefits for most students.
Coherence and Cohesion
The argument progresses logically through career and academic consequences, with clear paragraphing and generally effective linking.
Reduce formulaic transitions and make the second body paragraph more fully developed rather than relying on several short assertions.
Lexical Resource
There is adequate range for the topic, but recurring unnatural choices such as “joining back,” “opt for leave,” and “university educations” weaken precision.
Use standard expressions such as “resume their studies,” “take time off,” and “university education,” and check words selected for rhetorical effect.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The essay uses varied sentence forms and remains clear, but agreement, punctuation, and clause-formation errors recur across the response.
Check pronoun references and subject–verb agreement in complex sentences, especially when the subject changes from a plural group to an individual.
Write this task while it is fresh
Try the same task now. It helps you remember the feedback and write better next time.
IELTS Writing Task 2
Many people believe students would benefit from spending some time away from studying between secondary school (high school) and university. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the above statement?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.