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, 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 it demands from studentsspending extra students’ time. It may make it harder for students to obtain the necessary qualifications. This is because studying abroad or doing a work placement will significantly increase the timeincrease significantly the cost of time which students spend onin travelling. For example, if undergraduates need to study abroad, they will have many things to deal withhave many things need to deal with such as buying travel ticketsticket, securing accommodationbooking hotels and adapting to a foreign language environmentlearning other languages. Those can take up so much time. As a result, students may have less time to study and prepare for exams.

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, real working situations are the best settings to cultivateteachers who can teach many communicational skills and how to develop and maintain relationships. These are necessary and essential in the workplaceprimary 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, although requiring undergraduate courses to include study abroad or work placements may resultundergraduate courses include a period of time spent studying abroad or doing a work placement may result in extra time demandsthe extra cost of time, yet it will bring more benefits for students’ careerscareer since students can learn practical skills which are necessary in modern society.

Overall assessment

Why this response received Band 6.0

The essay clearly presents a central position that the benefits of studying abroad or work placements outweigh the time constraints involved. The main limitation lies in repeated grammatical errors and clumsy clause structures that reduce structural control. To improve, focus on correcting complex sentence structures and varying vocabulary instead of copying long prompt phrases.

Band score breakdown

IELTS Writing Criteria Scores

TR

Task Response

6.0
Scoring rule

The candidate presents a clear position throughout the response and directly addresses both sides of the prompt.

Next step

Elaborate further on the specific benefits of studying abroad alongside work placements to provide more balanced evidence.

CC

Coherence and Cohesion

6.0
Scoring rule

Paragraphing is logical and ideas progress clearly from the drawback to the benefits before reaching a final opinion.

Next step

Avoid repeating long prompt phrases verbatim as topic sentences to make transitions feel more natural.

LR

Lexical Resource

6.0
Scoring rule

Vocabulary is generally adequate to convey the message, though there are occasional word form errors and repetitive phrasing.

Next step

Incorporate a wider variety of precise collocations and synonyms related to academic study and professional development.

GRA

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

5.0
Scoring rule

A mix of simple and complex sentences is attempted, but frequent grammatical errors occur, particularly in noun clauses used as subjects.

Next step

Practice using gerund phrases correctly as sentence subjects to avoid awkward clause structures.