Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-11-13

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, schools are closed due to several reasons in many areas of the world. Mostly in summer every country decide to give leave of long days to their lower and higher educational institutes. Some people think there are few benefits of this decision such as children spend time with their families and give time to their habits. On the other side, some individuals argue that there are no need to that much extra holidays they relize because of this free time children go away from study and adapt bad activities in their lives.

In current busy schedule of students, where they only have two type of routine: one is school and second is coaching centers after school due to this hectic routine they have spend all day on study without any other activity. As a result, there is no time available for family and personal habits. For example, if we have daily timetable of primary school students they just wakeup and do there breakfast and get ready for school where they study almost 7 hours after this when arrive at home, only take some minutes for lunch then they need to go tuition and come back home at night, because of this there is no time left for family and other likely things like gardening and sport. That's why to fulfill all these necessary activities long holidays are really important for students.

On the other side, these type of large leaves affect students in terms of study like if they spend more time at home rather than study then they forget all previous lessons which contibute in issue where teachers again need to repeat all this material which take more time to complete all course work. Another thing that it is possible children spend more time outdoor where they hopefully join bad company of friends. So schools needs to give shorter breaks after some months.

In conclusion, summer vacation have both type affects like it help children to spend good time with realitives and do extra curiculam activities.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions: the first main body explains that longer holidays give children time with family and personal interests, while the second argues that extended breaks can lead to forgotten lessons and less desirable peer influences. These are relevant points, and the example of a pupil’s packed school-and-tuition day helps illustrate the value of time off. However, the discussion is uneven: the benefits are explained in more detail than the case for shorter holidays, which is asserted rather than supported with a specific example or fuller reasoning. The conclusion mentions family time and extracurricular activities but does not clearly summarise the argument about shorter breaks or state a balanced overall view. Develop both sides more evenly and make your position explicit.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, one paragraph for each side of the discussion, and a conclusion. The contrast markers “On the other side” and “In conclusion” help readers follow the broad direction, and the example in the second paragraph is placed where it supports the point about busy routines. However, some connections are mechanical, and the long example sentence contains several stages without clear breaks, making the progression harder to follow. The final paragraph is very brief and does not bring both arguments together. Use clearer topic sentences, divide lengthy sentences, and link each example directly to the claim it supports. More precise referencing would also help readers track ideas across sentences.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “hectic routine,” “previous lessons,” “course work,” and “shorter breaks,” so the main ideas are generally understandable. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate or informal, such as “give leave of long days,” “large leaves,” and “bad company of friends.” Spelling and word-form errors, including “relize,” “contibute,” and “curiculam,” also make the writing less controlled. Aim for precise phrases associated with education and holidays, and check spelling carefully. Replacing repeated general terms such as “things” and “activities” with specific descriptions would make your explanations clearer and more effective.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including a cause-and-effect structure beginning “As a result” and a conditional example beginning “if we have daily timetable.” However, complex sentences are often difficult to control, and errors occur frequently enough to affect clarity. For example, “every country decide” has a subject–verb agreement error, while “they have spend all day” uses an incorrect verb form. The long sentence describing the student’s day also has problems with sentence boundaries and clause structure. Practise building accurate sentences with one main idea, then add subordinate clauses carefully. Check agreement, articles, verb forms, and punctuation when editing.

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