In many countries, students take a year gap after finishing school and work or travel during this period. Should students take a gap year before attending universities? What are the advantages and disadvantages of it?
Sample Response
Taking a gap yearTaking a gap year off between high school and universitythe university has become a popular choice for many students. There are a number of common ways they utilise this time, such astime; such as travelling abroad, volunteering or working. I personally believe that this kind of experience should be more actively recommended to studentsrecommended to students more actively since it can offer young peoplethey can offer youngsters several benefits.
Spending time outside school means thatSpending time outside of school indicates that students can encounter opportunities to interact with people with whom they are not used to communicatingpeople who they are not used to communicating with. The foreigners they meetForeigners they meet while travelling overseas or colleagues from volunteering and work enable them to develop exceptional social skills to talk to others from different cultures, races, or age groupswith cultural, racial or age differences. Such experiences can subsequently motivate them to become more confident and outgoing peoplemotivate them to be a more confident and outgoing person, which is believed to help them establish a solid social network.
Another distinctive advantage that a gap yeargap year break can give to students is time to try outa time to try out different kinds of work experiencetypes of practical work. Many teenagers graduate from high school without having clear occupational plans. However, participating in work experience programs or working part-time before starting university can broaden their perspectives on career choices. This can be illustrated byAn exemplary case can be illustrated by looking at my sister, who spent six months teaching English in Cambodia during her gap year. While she was looking after disadvantaged local childrenthe disadvantaged local kids, she developed a desire to work for international charity organisations and she enrolled in an international studies degree. In conclusion, I am convinced that societythe society should encourage more high school graduates because the process of establishing social skills and trying different jobstrials on different jobs can provide them with invaluable life experiences.
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response develops two relevant benefits through clear examples and maintains an easy-to-follow positive position, with particularly effective discussion of social confidence and career exploration. Its central weakness is that it does not address any genuine disadvantage despite the question requiring both sides; add a distinct drawback paragraph and then weigh that risk against the benefits in a separate, balanced conclusion.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The essay gives a clear positive answer and develops two relevant benefits of a gap year: social confidence and career exploration. The main limitation is that the question asks for both advantages and disadvantages, but no real disadvantage is developed, so the response is only partly balanced.
Add one separate paragraph explaining a drawback such as delayed academic momentum, financial pressure, or wasting the year without a clear plan, then weigh that risk against the benefits in the conclusion.
Coherence and Cohesion
The essay is logically organised into an introduction and two benefit paragraphs, and progression is generally easy to follow. Cohesion is weakened by a missing disadvantage paragraph, some overloaded sentence links, and a conclusion that is attached to the second body paragraph.
Use a four-paragraph structure: introduction, advantage paragraph, disadvantage paragraph, and a separate balanced conclusion.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is flexible and topic-related, with useful phrases about volunteering, social networks, career choices, and charity organisations. Several collocations are unnatural, including gap year off, gap year break, and trials on different jobs.
Replace unnatural collocations with standard IELTS-style phrasing such as take a gap year, gain work experience, explore career options, and try different jobs.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
There is a good range of complex structures, and the message is clear throughout. Errors in articles, pronoun reference, punctuation, and number agreement are noticeable but usually do not stop understanding.
Check each long sentence for article use, singular/plural agreement, and pronoun reference before finalising the essay.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
In many countries, students take a year gap after finishing school and work or travel during this period. Should students take a gap year before attending universities? What are the advantages and disadvantages of it?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.