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
One of the most noticeableconspicuous trends among today's studentspupils is taking a year off to travel or workfor travel or job before commencing tertiary educationbefore commencing the tertiary education. This is a phenomenon which leads to both advantages and disadvantagesproblems and advantages. In my opinion, a year-long break for studentsa year break for the students has both positive and negative effects. This essay will discuss the influence of a gap yearyear gap on the teenagers and Deletewill lead to a reasoned conclusion. Several advantagesA deluge of merits can support taking this breakback this stance to take the break. The most importantpreponderant is that students can alleviate their stress during the holiday period. For instance, students get a break after studying for a long periodstudents after studying for a long period, get a break to relax psychologically and physically. In addition to this, this would be the opportunity for them to travel outside the country, learn about foreign cultureslearn foreign culture and workplace trendscurrent market trends. So meanwhile they develop maturity and gain enthusiasmpossess an enthusiasm for university educationthe university education. Hence it is apparent why students need a vacation before joining the university. On the contrary, many students become distractedget deviated from their studies and find it difficult to startfeel difficult to start the academic education after having a long break. Some of the teenagers get attracted to the lavish lifestyles and prefer to adopt badobnoxious habits. Needless to sayNeedless, to say all these demerits have a far-reaching impact on the students. In view of the arguments outlined above, we can conclude that the potential drawbacks of having a break after secondary education are too dire to ignore despite some merits. Hence, the parents and the students have to consider the consequences before deciding to take a year breakbefore deciding to a year break from studies between their school and university education.
Why this response received Band 6.0
The response’s strongest feature is that it considers both benefits and drawbacks of a gap year and maintains a generally recognisable line of discussion. Its main limitation is an unclear final recommendation, compounded by one-paragraph organisation and frequent awkward vocabulary and grammar. The highest-priority improvement is to state a consistent position on whether most students should take a gap year, then support it in clearly separated paragraphs using accurate, natural language.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response discusses advantages and disadvantages and gives a cautious final view. However, the question asks whether students should take a gap year, and the final recommendation is not fully consistent with earlier support.
State clearly whether you recommend a gap year for most students, and under what conditions.
Coherence and Cohesion
There is a recognisable sequence from introduction to benefits, drawbacks, and conclusion, but the response is one paragraph and uses some memorised linking phrases.
Use separate paragraphs and replace template phrases with direct topic sentences.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary shows ambition, but some high-level words are unnatural or misused, such as deluge, conspicuous, obnoxious habits, and preponderant.
Choose accurate academic vocabulary over impressive-looking words when the meaning is simple.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Grammar errors in articles, verb patterns, punctuation, and noun forms are frequent. Meaning is mostly clear but the errors reduce fluency.
Focus on article use with singular count nouns and correct verb patterns after decide, start, and prefer.
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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.