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)

Primary and secondary institutes mostly give the summer vacation around two months or more in many countries. long school holidays are better for students to go on the vacations with their families. While, shorter vacation is more beneficial for the students because many candidates are no brilliant in education, therefore long holidays affect the study of the students.

Long vacations are better for students to go on trips with their family members and enjoying the best time of their vacations. Many candidates are getting bored to take classes regularly since a couple of months, so long vacations basically provide an opportunity to student to go on the trip such as their village, where mostly families go to the villiages on vacations to live a life of village. Moreover, vacations are a important time for students because many students couldn't go on the trip or other cities due to regularly classes, However, students are very excited for the vacations and they are waiting for the time to come and we can relax and enjoy the time of vacations.

On the other hand, shorter holidays is much better then the long holidays. From my perspective, long holidays has several drawbacks, one the main is that students who are less brilliant if they take a long holiday, their studies that they did it will be forgotten. Therefore, shorter vacation are beneficial for both students and teachers. Another drawback is that in long vacation mostly school are closed so many of teachers can't earn the income due to holidays. If they execute short holidays so it teacher can cover all the course in a timeline.

In conclusion, logn school vacation are better for the student to take some time to go the trip and get relaxed from studies, it basically helps to student to reduced their stress. In terms of short vacation it more beneficial for the teacher, and students who are less clever in the studies.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions: the first body paragraph explains the value of holidays for family trips, rest and relief from routine, while the second gives reasons for shorter breaks, including retaining what students have learned and teachers’ income. Your conclusion also signals a view on both options. However, the position is not consistently clear: the opening calls long holidays “better,” then says shorter holidays are “more beneficial,” and the conclusion again favours long holidays for students while preferring short ones for others. Several points are asserted rather than explained—for example, how shorter breaks help teachers “cover all the course in a timeline.” Clarify your overall judgement and develop each argument with a specific explanation or example to make the response more complete and convincing.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two sides, and a conclusion. “On the other hand” helps signal the shift to arguments for shorter holidays, and the main ideas are generally grouped in relevant paragraphs. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes difficult to follow because several points are joined into long, loosely connected sentences. For instance, the first body paragraph moves from boredom with classes to village trips and then to students’ excitement without clearly distinguishing the supporting points. Linking words such as “Moreover” and “Therefore” are used, but some connections are not fully logical or precise. Use clearer topic sentences and divide explanations into shorter steps, with pronouns and references that make it obvious which students or holidays you mean.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “summer vacation,” “drawbacks,” “regularly classes,” and “reduce their stress.” There are also attempts to express more specific concepts, such as students forgetting what they have learned and teachers losing income during school closures. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate or repetitive, which sometimes makes meaning less clear. Examples include “go on the vacations,” “a important time,” “less brilliant,” and “live a life of village”; “vacation” and “students” are also repeated frequently. Spelling errors such as “villiages” and “logn” further weaken control. Build a bank of natural phrases for education and holidays, and check spelling and word forms during revision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a conditional idea in “if they take a long holiday” and a contrast introduced by “While.” However, complex structures are often not controlled, and errors occur frequently enough to make some sentences difficult to follow. For example, “shorter holidays is” has a subject–verb agreement error, while “their studies that they did it will be forgotten” combines clauses incorrectly. Articles, plurals and verb forms are also inconsistent, as in “a important time,” “shorter vacation are,” and “students couldn't go … due to regularly classes.” Punctuation and sentence boundaries need attention, particularly where “However” joins ideas. Practise accurate basic clauses first, then build longer sentences with clear subjects and correctly linked clauses.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.