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?
Sample Response
People have different views about whether all university undergraduate curricula should include a period of time for studying abroad or completing a work placementseek a temporary career. In my opinion, while it may negatively affect their formal learning, it is necessary to have a gap year for studying abroad or doing a work placementfind a short-term job.
There are two main reasons why it could be argued that undergraduates should always stay on campus. First, undergraduates are also studentsstudent, their main mission is to study their major and other essential subjectsubjects knowledge which is the foundation of their future careers. If they overlook this knowledge, they would find it difficult to secure a suitable job. Secondly, undergraduatesundergraduate commonly lack self-discipline, making them easily fall intoleading them easily led into harmful habits without a supervisor. For example, many students cannot take control of themselves and spend their time outside the school on entertainment, wasting their timetimes during their prime years.
However, I would agree with those who believe that undergraduates are supposed to experience studying abroad or a temporary career period. These programs should be part of the official university curriculum, with professional tutors assigned to assist and supervise students. UndergraduatesUndergraduate can develop their independence and ability to navigateabilities to deal with social situations. By living or working in an environmentin a venue they've never been to, they have to learn how to communicate and cooperate with different kinds of strangers, and studying abroad also improves their language skills. If studentsstudent first learn these skills when they are in a real company, they will pay a high price for those lessonspay a high price to the lesson.
In conclusion, while there are some reasons to believe that undergraduatesundergraduate should spend their time Deleteon studying their major, my own view is that studying abroad or a work placementa working period will substantially benefit their future career plans.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The essay presents a clear position that directly addresses the prompt, supporting the idea that study abroad and work placements offer essential long-term benefits. However, grammatical inaccuracies and slight lexical awkwardness occasionally distract the reader. To improve, focus on refining subject-verb agreement and using more precise terminology when discussing academic and professional topics.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response presents a clear position on the topic and addresses both advantages and disadvantages with relevant supporting points.
Ensure concepts like structured placements are distinguished from informal gap years to keep the arguments tightly aligned with the prompt.
Coherence and Cohesion
Paragraphing is logical and ideas generally progress smoothly from one section to the next with clear transitions.
Use a wider variety of linking expressions to connect sentences within paragraphs more naturally.
Lexical Resource
A good range of topic-specific vocabulary is used effectively, though occasional awkward word choices occur.
Refine word choices in expressions like 'venue' and 'seek a temporary career' to ensure natural collocation.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of simple and complex sentence structures is attempted, but frequent mechanical and agreement errors are present.
Proofread carefully to eliminate basic grammatical slips such as singular/plural noun mismatches and subject-verb agreement errors.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
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?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.