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)

Nowadays the schools offer two months or more in the summer holidays.While extended holidays are beneficial in many other ways but there are arguements in the favour of reducing the length of these holidays.

Extended holidays offer time to students to practice and observe other pratical activites, they can be related to physical activities like sports or they can travel and spend time with their family. If students get more holidays they can learn new skills or they can explore their personal potential which is not possible during the academic year. So, they can rejoin school with a healthy and fresh mind. Lengthy holidays give time to students so they can groom and work on themselves to be a better person.

On the other hand, shorter school holidays could offer educational advantages. Firstly, if a student is on summer break he or she might forget their skills and whatever they've learnt, especially mathematics and science requires constant study. Consequently teachers are also disturbed from the lenghty holidays as when they get back, they themselves have to revise the subjects to teach. Secondly, students who doesn't have access to extra curricular activites like sports or traveling and maybe some lives in a remote area where they lack entertainment facilities might lose their potential if lengthy holidays are applied. They find themselves beneficial with shorter holidays.

In conclusion, both factors are comulatively beneficial only if utilized wisely. But my analysis is that schools should maintain a balanced calender so both students and teachers should be comfortable with it.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions: the first body paragraph explains how longer breaks allow students to pursue sports, travel, spend time with family and develop skills, while the second gives reasons for shorter breaks, including retaining learning and reducing the need for teachers to revise. However, several points are asserted rather than explained; for example, the claim that students in remote areas “might lose their potential” needs a clearer link to holiday length. Your conclusion supports a balanced calendar, but the position could be stated more directly and consistently. The response is 249 words, one word below the 250-word minimum; the eight words copied from the prompt are not counted. Develop the examples and ensure the response meets the required length.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two sides, and a conclusion. Transitions such as “On the other hand,” “Firstly,” and “Secondly” help signal the argument’s direction. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes loose: the point about teachers revising is added without a clear explanation of how this supports shorter holidays, and the remote-area point is difficult to follow. Some linking is mechanical, particularly the repeated use of “So” and “Firstly/Secondly.” The conclusion introduces a balanced-calendar recommendation, but the preceding discussion does not fully establish how that balance should be achieved. Use clearer links between each claim and its consequence, and organise related ideas more tightly.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “academic year,” “extra curricular activities,” “potential,” and “balanced calendar.” There are also attempts at less common phrasing, such as “groom and work on themselves,” though this is not a natural collocation in this context. Noticeable spelling and word-choice errors include “arguements,” “pratical,” “activites,” “lenghty,” and “comulatively.” Some expressions are vague or awkward, such as “other ways” and “They find themselves beneficial,” which make parts of the argument less precise. Build accuracy by checking spelling and choosing natural collocations; for example, students can “develop their abilities” rather than “groom” themselves.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including conditional forms such as “If students get more holidays they can learn new skills” and a contrast introduced by “While.” However, complex structures are not consistently controlled. The opening has a faulty contrast construction: “While … but …” should use either “While …, there are …” or “Extended holidays …, but …”. There are also agreement and sentence-structure problems in “students who doesn’t have access” and “maybe some lives in a remote area”; use “students who don’t” and “some may live.” Punctuation is sometimes missing after introductory material, as in “Nowadays the schools…”. These errors do not prevent the overall meaning from being understood, but more accurate clause construction and agreement are needed.

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