Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-11-05

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In many countries, primary and secondary schools close for two months or more in the summer holidays.

What is the value of long school holidays?

What are the arguments in favour of shorter school holidays?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 6.0)

Many school around the world provde students with extended summer holidays, which can last for two months or more. While these breaks offer several benefits, including relaxation and personal development, shorter holidays are also considered because they help maintain academic progress.

Long holidays can allow students to rest and develop outside the classroom. studying continously can cause stress and mental exhaustion and long breaks allows students to recover. they can spend their time with their families and, they can improve personal development as an individual as well. For instance, students can participate in sports, travel or they can learn practical skills during long summer holidays. Consequently, they return to school refreshed and perform better in academics.

However, shorter holidays can help maintain the academic progress and daily routine. In addition, long breaks can cause students to forget previously learned material and, working parents may also struggle to arrange childcare during lengthy holidays. For example, A student who spends two months away from academic activities may need additional time to revise previous lessons when school resumes. Therefore, Shorter breaks can help students maintain continuity in their education.

In conclusion, long school holidays are valuable because they allow students to rest, spend time with their families and develop personal interests. However, shorter holidays can help maintain academic progress and provide greater convenience for working parents. Both arrangements therefore offer important benefits.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both questions and maintain a balanced position: the first body paragraph explains rest, family time and personal development, while the second gives academic continuity and childcare as reasons for shorter breaks. The examples of sports, travel and revising lessons are relevant. However, some points are asserted rather than fully explained. For instance, you say students “perform better in academics” after a long holiday without showing how this follows from rest, and the value of family time receives little development. The shorter-holiday argument is somewhat clearer, but could explain more specifically how shorter breaks reduce learning loss or help working parents. The response is also 21 words below the required minimum, so there is less space to develop these ideas fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, one paragraph for each side of the discussion, and a conclusion that restates the main points. The contrast between the two positions is easy to follow, and phrases such as “However” and “For instance” help signal relationships between ideas. This meets the lower-band expectation of coherent organisation and shows some features of stronger progression. At times, though, linking is mechanical or faulty: “In addition” introduces another disadvantage of long holidays, but its connection to the preceding sentence could be smoother, and “and” is unnecessarily repeated in “and, they can improve.” Develop a clearer sequence within each paragraph and use referencing or transitions more naturally to connect explanations and examples.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of topic vocabulary, including “mental exhaustion,” “personal development,” “academic progress,” “continuity” and “childcare.” These choices communicate the main ideas clearly, and some are suitably precise for an essay about school calendars. There are also word-choice, spelling and collocation slips that limit accuracy: “studying continously” is misspelled, “perform better in academics” is not a natural collocation, and “improve personal development as an individual” is awkward and repetitive. “Daily routine” is relevant but could be made more specific to students’ learning habits. Aim to use familiar academic phrases accurately before reaching for more elaborate wording, and proofread spelling and repeated or redundant expressions.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including the concession in “While these breaks offer several benefits…” and the conditional example beginning “A student who spends two months…”. Most sentences remain understandable, but some errors in agreement, articles, capitalisation and punctuation are noticeable. For example, “Many school” needs a plural noun, and “long breaks allows” should have a plural verb; sentences beginning “studying” and “they” also need capital letters. The comma in “with their families and, they can” is misplaced, and “Therefore, Shorter” incorrectly capitalises the word after the comma. Check subject–verb agreement and sentence boundaries carefully, while continuing to practise varied complex structures.

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