Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

Schools plays an important role in students life. Different countries have different perspective for summer holidays such as, some countries give students months of holidays while there is different opinion for shorter this holiday. The benefits for long holidyas compare to short holidays ,which is better for the students is given below.

The main reason is for long weekend in summer because of there are too much heat on this season. Therefore,students may fell sick and can not attend their classes as a result they can not get a good score in exam. In addition,as they get a plenty of time it becomes a tradition for students , they visit their relatives in those time and enjoy the seasonal fruits such as jack fruit, mangoes etc. Moreover they get the holiday after their exam that's why they enjoy a lot throughtout those time. As a result, during this time they can learn many new skills along with their academic subjects. For instance,some students learn swimming as the weather in is their favour , it also helps them to keep physically fit. Students can use it for various purpose and may utilize their time properly.

There are some valid reasons for holidays should short for the students because of it will directly effect their studies also a long break can break their concentrate. For example, students take time to understand their academic studies as they return from their visit , sometimes they may not come out from the excitment they have during their weekends. Morover, in those time they can not get a proper homework and sometimes it is quite challenging to handle them to study.

In contrast, there are arguments for both topic some people think that students should get a long holidays while some arguments for this should be shorter. I think that sometimes it is quite challenging to handle students in long holidays but i think it is valuable for the students to learn new things. it is also concering for the parents if they can get a short weekend it may not effect their study.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions: the first body paragraph gives reasons for long holidays, including relief from hot weather, family visits, and time to learn skills, while the next paragraph presents concerns about lost study routines and concentration. These are relevant points, and the swimming example helps illustrate one benefit. However, several ideas are asserted rather than explained—for example, the claim that heat makes students ill and affects exam results needs clearer support. The discussion of shorter holidays is less developed, and the conclusion does not clearly weigh the two positions: it says long holidays are valuable but also suggests shorter breaks may not affect study. State your view directly and explain the trade-offs more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two sides, and a concluding paragraph. Connectors such as “In addition,” “Moreover,” and “For instance” help signal examples and added points. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear: the first paragraph moves from heat to family visits, exam timing, and skills without showing how these points relate. Some linking phrases are awkward or repetitive, and “In contrast” does not clearly introduce the conclusion’s summary. References such as “those time” and “this holiday” are not always clear. Organise each paragraph around one main idea, then explain and exemplify it, and use transitions that accurately show the relationship between points.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “summer holidays,” “academic subjects,” “concentrate,” and “physically fit.” There are also attempts at more specific expressions, such as “seasonal fruits” and “learn many new skills.” However, the range is limited and several noticeable word-choice, collocation, and spelling errors make parts less natural or harder to follow: “long weekend” does not fit the discussion of school holidays, “shorter this holiday” is awkward, and “effect their studies” uses the wrong form. Spelling errors such as “holidyas,” “excitment,” and “Morover” also reduce accuracy. Build a bank of natural phrases for discussing education and breaks, and check spelling and word forms during revision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, using clauses with “because,” “as,” and “while,” as well as examples introduced by “For instance.” This shows an effort to vary sentence structure. However, complex sentences are often faulty, and errors occur frequently enough to make some sentences difficult to process. Examples include “Schools plays” and “students life,” where agreement and possessive forms are incorrect, and “because of there are too much heat,” where the clause structure and countability do not work. Other problems include “it becomes a tradition for students” and “it may not effect their study,” which have unclear or inaccurate grammatical patterns. Practise building accurate subject–verb–object sentences first, then add subordinate clauses and check agreement, articles, plurals, and punctuation.

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