Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-11-09

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)

In summers, mostly school is closed because to save the children from harm weather. Some regions school have been closed for three months.

To begin with, long holidays are due to protect the students from critical weather. For instance, Asia is the second or third most heatest continent in the world. Pakistan is also in this region. So, if we talk about specific country like pakitan. its weather is so hot in the summers. it bad effects on the health of students because children have not enough strong immune system or their body is also weak which not bear the hot weather. From my perspective, the main reason is that for long holidays. Due to hot weather students effect by heatwave which is not good for health and more chances for sweating which cause the dehydration.

Moreover, short holidays are good for study because student stay connected to the school and teachers which help them to concentrate on their study. For instance, in winters just 10 to 20 holidays are just for students and in these holidays are a few and student stay attached with their study. So short holidays are benefited for both teachers and students. In addition, short holidays are also good because students knows they just few vacations and in touch with study on daily basis. But it depends on just weather conditions because some countries have longest winter season and where long winter holidays are conducted.

In conclusion, from my side, long holidays are not much suitable for students. if these holidays are in summers or in winters because students waste their time in other useless activities like play video games and waste time on mobile phones just watching meaningless content.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions: you explain that long summer breaks protect children from extreme heat, using Pakistan as an example, and argue that shorter breaks help students remain connected to their studies. Your position against long holidays is also clear in the conclusion. However, the discussion is only partly developed. The value of long holidays is presented almost entirely as protection from hot weather, while other possible benefits are not considered. The case for shorter holidays repeats the idea of staying in touch with study, without explaining in detail how this improves learning or what practical advantages shorter breaks offer. Develop each side with a distinct reason and a specific explanation or example to make the response more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an opening, separate paragraphs for the two sides, and a conclusion. Connectors such as “To begin with,” “Moreover,” and “In addition” help signal the direction of the discussion. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear, and several points are repeated rather than extended. For example, the paragraph on shorter holidays says students remain connected to study and then restates that they stay in touch with study on a daily basis. Some links between ideas are also difficult to follow, particularly the shift from short winter holidays to the point about countries with long winters. Organise each paragraph around one main claim, then explain and illustrate it, using references and transitions that make the relationship between sentences clear.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some topic-related vocabulary, including “heatwave,” “dehydration,” “immune system,” and “concentrate,” which helps communicate the main ideas. However, the range is limited and several word choices or combinations are inaccurate or unnatural, sometimes making the meaning harder to follow. Examples include “harm weather,” “most heatest,” “students effect by heatwave,” and “holidays are benefited.” Spelling and word forms also need attention, as in “pakitan” and “students knows.” Aim to learn common collocations for this topic, such as describing how heat affects health or how breaks support learning. Replacing repeated general words like “good” and “waste” with more precise alternatives would also make the argument clearer and more academic.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more extended sentences, including explanations with “because” and examples introduced by “For instance.” However, the range of structures is limited, and errors occur frequently, sometimes making relationships between ideas difficult to understand. For example, “Some regions school have been closed for three months” has problems with word order and agreement, while “children have not enough strong immune system” has errors in article use and sentence structure. There are also issues with verb forms and agreement in “students knows” and “which cause the dehydration.” Capitalisation and sentence boundaries are inconsistent, as in “pakitan. its weather.” Practise building accurate subject–verb–object sentences first, then add subordinate clauses while checking agreement, articles, and punctuation.

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