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)

In Many countries ,primary and secondary schools remain close for two or more month in summer holidays.In my point of view long holidays provide sufficient time to students to enjoy and spend time with family.Although it also has some drawbacks to be considered.

Holidays ensure the provision of rest and private time to students .However in some cases it can leads to some adverse effects on their acedamic performance.

One the one hand longer holidays provide enough time to students in which they can relax themselves.Students can go for trips ,family meetup and and activties like games.This will provide them rest from long time of daily hard routine .If a student enjoy holidays with family and also give almost one hour to his study it can boost his acedamic performance .Moreover,Students wait for holidays because they and their familes scedule alot of family functions and tours during summer holidays.

On the other hand critics also argue that long holidays has many consequence which can contribute to poor acedamic record.For example if a student remains untouched from his studies for three months definately he will forget his slybus.This student will face diffuclty to start study from where he took pause.Therefore we should prefer short holidays so that students remian touch with their acedamic goals.Moreover short holidays did not let them to be so much involved in other activties.Furthermore, Little holidays do not let them to be addicted to games ,outing and Fun.

In conclusion,long holidays has alot of benefits like time freedem for students but many arguments that support shorter holidays like waste of time ,huge study gap disturb acedamic score etc.In my opinion a balance approach will work best in this condition.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both questions: the first body paragraph explains the value of longer holidays through rest, family trips and time together, while the next gives reasons for shorter breaks, including avoiding a long interruption to study. Your final view—that a balanced approach is best—also gives the response a clear position. These ideas are relevant, but some are less fully developed than others. For instance, the claim that students may forget the syllabus after three months is plausible, yet it would be stronger with a specific example or explanation of how shorter breaks prevent this. The value of holidays is also mainly framed as family time and relaxation; explaining how rest supports wellbeing or learning would make the response more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the benefits and drawbacks, and a conclusion. Phrases such as “On the one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “In conclusion” help readers follow the main stages of the argument. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical, and links between individual points are not always smooth. The opening sentence of the second paragraph, “Holidays ensure the provision of rest and private time,” repeats an idea that is developed more fully in the following paragraph. In the shorter-holiday paragraph, the points about forgetting the syllabus, staying focused and avoiding too many activities could be connected more explicitly. Use referencing and transitions to show how each example supports the paragraph’s main claim.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “academic performance,” “family functions,” “study gap” and “balance approach.” There are also attempts to express more specific concepts, such as students becoming “involved” in activities. However, the range is limited and several word-choice, collocation and spelling errors make the writing less natural and occasionally slow the reader. Examples include “family meetup,” “time freedem,” “slybus” and “remain touch.” Some expressions are also imprecise: “waste of time” does not clearly describe the educational concern. Build a bank of accurate phrases for school breaks, such as “retain what they have learned” and “return to school refreshed,” and check spelling and collocations during revision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including a conditional sentence (“If a student enjoy holidays with family…”) and a contrast clause beginning “Although.” This shows an effort to vary sentence structure, but control is inconsistent. Some sentences contain errors in agreement, verb forms, articles and sentence construction: “long holidays has many consequence,” “it can leads,” and “Although it also has some drawbacks” is an incomplete clause in this context. Punctuation and spacing around commas and full stops are also inconsistent, which sometimes makes sentence boundaries harder to follow. Practise checking each sentence for a clear subject and main verb, then review agreement and verb form. More accurate control of these structures would make your ideas easier to read.

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