Studying Abroad · Benefits to the Home Country and Personal Challenges
A complete IELTS General Training Writing Task 2 question with a model answer of 357 words, plus a breakdown of the sentence structures, cohesive devices and vocabulary that answer uses. Write your own version first, then compare.
Written by Manish Sharma · CELTA and DELTA qualified · 8 years teaching IELTS
Score my answer to this questionThe question
You have 40 minutes. Write at least 250 words.
Every year, large numbers of young people leave their home country to study at universities overseas. How can studying abroad benefit the student's country of origin? What challenges might these students face while living and studying in a foreign country? Write at least 250 words.
How to approach it
- 01Answer BOTH questions explicitly — give each its own clearly signposted body paragraph
- 02Devote roughly equal space to benefits for the home country and to challenges for the student
- 03Use country-specific examples (Saudi Arabia's scholarship programme, Australia, Germany) to add credibility
- 04Group challenges thematically: emotional, financial, academic, social — not as one undifferentiated list
- 05Use precise discourse markers: 'The most obvious is', 'Beyond hard skills', 'However', 'On top of all this'
- 06End with a conclusion that addresses BOTH halves of the prompt and suggests a balanced takeaway
Model answer
357 words in 4 paragraphs. Read it after you have written your own, not before: the point of a model answer is to show you what you missed, and you cannot miss anything you have not attempted.
From small island nations to large emerging economies, sending students abroad to study has become a national priority for many governments. Yet alongside the long-term gains for the home country, individual students often face serious difficulties while they are away. This essay considers both sides in turn.
There are several ways in which studying abroad can benefit a student's country of origin. The most obvious is the skills they bring back. A young engineer who completes a doctorate in Germany, or a nurse trained in Australia, returns home with technical knowledge, professional standards, and research contacts that would have taken decades to develop locally. Many countries explicitly use overseas scholarships — Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah programme is a well-known example — to fast-track expertise in priority sectors such as healthcare, technology, and clean energy. Beyond hard skills, returnees also bring language ability, exposure to different management styles, and international networks that help domestic businesses to export, attract investment, and adopt better practices. Even those who never return contribute through remittances, by mentoring younger students from home, and by acting as informal cultural ambassadors who reshape how their country is seen abroad.
However, students themselves often face significant personal challenges. Loneliness is the most widely reported difficulty: arriving in a country where you know nobody and may struggle with the local language can be genuinely isolating, particularly during the first winter and the first major holiday spent away from family. Many students also experience financial pressure, as overseas tuition fees and city rents are typically much higher than back home, and part-time work is restricted by visa conditions. The academic system itself can be a shock — independent research, critical questioning of teachers, and group presentations are not standard in every culture. On top of all this, racism and casual discrimination remain a real problem for some students, especially in smaller towns and after political events.
In conclusion, while overseas study can deliver substantial long-term benefits to a student's country of origin through skills, networks, and remittances, the personal toll on the students themselves should not be underestimated, and home governments have a duty to support them during their time away.
What this answer actually does
Measured from the text above, and compared against the other 69 answers of the same type in this library. These are counts, not band scores: they describe what the writing does, which is the part you can copy.
66 more than the median answer for this task type
7 words at the shortest, 45 at the longest
the same as the median answer for this task type
carry a subordinate or relative clause
Sentence rhythm
Sentences average 23.8 words and vary by 10.8 words either side of that, running from 7 words to 45. Variation is the point. Grammatical Range and Accuracy rewards a mix of simple and complex sentences, and an answer where every sentence is the same length reads as flat no matter how correct it is. 6 of the 15 sentences here carry a subordinate or relative clause.
The cohesive devices it uses
6 in total, spread across 3 different functions. Range matters more than count: an answer that opens every paragraph with a sequencer signals its structure but never signals a relationship between ideas, and Coherence and Cohesion is marked on both.
however, while, yet
such as
in conclusion
Vocabulary and repetition
Ignoring grammar words, 81 per cent of the content words in this answer are distinct, and 69 per cent appear exactly once. Lexical Resource is where repetition costs the most marks, and the usual cause is not a small vocabulary but reaching for the same noun every time the topic is named.
The longest run of words copied straight from the question is 4 words. Examiners discount wording lifted from the question, so a short run here is the right outcome: the answer restates the topic in its own words rather than borrowing the question's.
What you are marked on
All four criteria carry equal weight, and your Writing band is their average rounded to the nearest half band.
Task Response
Fully answer both direct questions: how overseas study benefits the home country AND the challenges students face, with adequate development.
Coherence & Cohesion
Use a clear four-paragraph structure that devotes a body paragraph to each question, with strong topic sentences and linking.
Lexical Resource
Use precise vocabulary for higher education, migration, skills transfer, and personal wellbeing.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
Use a range of complex structures including conditionals, concessive clauses, and present perfect for ongoing effects.
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