Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

In the majority of countries, schools close for few months in summer the summer holidays mainly for the children as well as the teachers to have a break from the busy school schedule. However, I would say that summer holidays should be cut short.

Summer holidays are very essential for primary and secondary school going children because maximum amount of time they spend it in school this gives less-to-no time for them to spend time with their family members. This might further lead to less connection with them. Hence, summer holidays gives a chance to re-connect with family members. For example, during summer holidays many people go on trips in order to spend time with their children and create nostalgic memories for the future.

Furthermore, school schedule can be packed with home works and exams, where children would not get time to pursue other extra-curricular activities which would help them in their cognitive development. For instance, personally i was very interested in playing basketball, yet i was not able to pursue it because of the tight schedule in my school. But i was able to make use of the summer holidays to pursue my hobby.

But, on the other hand, I would argue in favour of shorter summer holidays, because sometimes prolonged leaves can lead to incompletion of school syllabus due to less working days. Children also get quite a lot of holidays during festivals and weekends.

Hence, keeping all these in mind i would say that summer holidays are very essential, although it should be shortened for a limited number of days.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both questions and maintain a clear overall view: long holidays benefit children, but they should be shortened. The family connection and opportunity to pursue hobbies are relevant reasons, supported by examples such as family trips and your experience with basketball. However, the case for shorter holidays is much less developed: you mention syllabus completion and other days off, but do not explain how shorter breaks would improve learning or school planning. The opening also says holidays are mainly for children and teachers to rest, but this point is not developed. To strengthen the response, explain the consequences of each argument more fully and make your final position on how much shorter holidays should be more precise.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, two paragraphs explaining the value of long holidays, a contrasting paragraph, and a conclusion. Linking expressions such as “Furthermore,” “on the other hand,” and “Hence” help readers follow the main progression. This meets the lower-band expectation of coherent organisation and shows some movement towards more flexible cohesion. However, “Hence” is used to introduce the conclusion after a contrast, where a clearer summary link would fit better, and the final paragraph repeats the idea that holidays are essential without fully resolving the tension in your position. Some references, such as “this” in “This might further lead to less connection,” could be more explicit. Use transitions that show the precise relationship between ideas and connect each example directly to its point.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range to discuss school breaks, family relationships, and activities, including “re-connect,” “cognitive development,” “prolonged leaves,” and “pursue my hobby.” These choices communicate the main ideas, and the basketball example gives the vocabulary a clear context. There are also some inaccurate or unnatural combinations, such as “maximum amount of time they spend it in school,” “school going children,” and “incompletion of school syllabus.” “Nostalgic memories for the future” is also an unclear expression. These do not prevent understanding, but they limit precision and naturalness. Aim for more conventional collocations and check word forms; for example, describe children as spending “most of their time at school” and refer to “unfinished syllabus coverage.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, using clauses with “because,” “although,” and “which,” as well as a conditional construction in “where children would not get time.” The main meaning is generally understandable, but some grammatical errors remain. For example, “summer holidays gives” has subject–verb disagreement, and “maximum amount of time they spend it in school” has an unclear clause structure. The opening sentence also contains a repeated phrase and lacks a clear grammatical connection between its ideas. Capitalisation and punctuation are inconsistent, including lowercase “i” and an extra space before a comma. Improve control by checking agreement, sentence boundaries, and clause structure, while keeping the useful variety of complex sentences.

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