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?

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Sample Response

1

Currently, Deletethe world is experiencing economic development and some people claim that all university undergraduate courses should include a period of time spent studying abroad or doing a work placement. Although this plan may result in extra time pressure, I believe the advantages outweigh the disadvantages because these experiences can help students develop many practical skills for their future careers.

2

The main limitation of this measure is the extra time required of studentsspending extra students’ time. It may make it harder for students to obtain the necessary qualifications. This is becausebecause that studying abroad or doing a work placement will significantly increase the time that students spend travellingincrease significantly the cost of time which students spend in travelling. For example, if undergraduates need to study abroad, they will have many things to deal withthey will have many things need to deal with such assuch as, buying travel tickets, booking hotelsbuying transportation ticket, booking hotel and learning other languages. Those can take up so much of their timetheir so much time. As a result, students may have less time to study and prepare for their own examsthemselves exam.

3

However, undergraduate courses include a period of time spent studying abroad or doing a work placement can help undergraduates learn many useful skills as many skills people need to study them from real work and life. For instance, a real working environmentreal working situation is the best teacher who can teach many communicationcommunicational skills and how to develop and maintain relationships. These arerelationship. Those are essential in the workplacenecessary and primary in workplace. Therefore, undergraduate courses include a period of time spent studying abroad or doing a work placement is ana important measure for universities and students.

4

In conclusion, undergraduate courses include a period of time spent studying abroad or doing a work placement may result in the extra cost of time, yet it will bring more benefits for students' careersstudent’s career since students can learn practical skills which are necessary in modern society.

Overall assessment

Why this response received Band 5.5

The essay presents a clear opinion and addresses both sides of the prompt with relevant main points. However, the response relies heavily on repeating exact phrasing from the prompt, and frequent grammatical structures—such as using full active clauses as subjects—impair the flow. To improve, focus on paraphrasing key terms naturally and refining complex sentence structures to ensure grammatical precision.

Band score breakdown

IELTS Writing Criteria Scores

TR

Task Response

6.0
Scoring rule

You take a clear stance throughout the essay and address both the drawbacks and benefits of compulsory placements or study abroad modules.

Next step

Elaborate more deeply on the benefits by providing specific examples of practical skills gained beyond general communication.

CC

Coherence and Cohesion

6.0
Scoring rule

The essay is logically divided into distinct paragraphs with clear overall progression from disadvantages to advantages.

Next step

Vary your transition devices and avoid starting sentences with awkward cohesive formulas like 'This is because that'.

LR

Lexical Resource

5.0
Scoring rule

You use some appropriate topic vocabulary, but there is significant reliance on repeating exact phrases from the prompt text.

Next step

Practice using synonyms and rephrasing prompt vocabulary, such as using terms like 'mandatory overseas study' or 'work-integrated learning'.

GRA

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

5.0
Scoring rule

While your meaning remains clear, frequent errors occur in sentence structure, article usage, and clause formation.

Next step

Master gerund structures when using actions as sentence subjects, such as writing 'Including study abroad programs helps students' instead of 'Undergraduate courses include study abroad can help students'.