Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-11-14

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 parts of the world, schools are extending summer vacations of students in both secondary and primary schools. This issue can lead to several practicle negative impacts but can be overtaken by several measurments.

Long school holidays are beneficial for student and teachers. It gives them time for refreshment and spending more time with their siblings. They get time to develope their intrest in outdoor activities such as, sports and travelling. For teachers it is also the time to focus on their life and some relaxation. They get enough time engage in different activities related to the world. furthermore, it helps both to strenghthens their family relations while travelling and going for picnics which hard to manage with with academic curriculam activities.

Howevere, Some aurguments are in favour of shorter holidyas. Firstly, the forget a huge syllabus they learnet in school due to discourging from schools. This then takes longer time for student and teachers to revise it with the present ongoing lesson plans and syllabus. Secondly, it can creat inequality between some familys such as, who are poor can not afford summar vacations camps, picnics and different activities. While, for some of the wealthy familys can it is affordable to send their childerens for engagement of different activities.

In conclusion, although long holidays provide more relaxation and shorter are helpfull for retaining knoweldge. Both of them are helpfull but making their negative impacts more shorter we can keep a balance between both them. Such as, giving shorter breakouts throughout the whole year.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both parts of the question and give relevant reasons for the value of long holidays, including rest, family time and opportunities for outdoor activities. You also present two arguments for shorter breaks: students may forget material, and children from poorer families may have fewer holiday opportunities. These points show a relevant response, but some are not fully explained. For example, the effect of forgetting schoolwork on later learning is mentioned but not illustrated, and the inequality point would be clearer with a specific example of how shorter holidays could reduce that gap. Your conclusion proposes breaks spread through the year, but the recommendation could be linked more explicitly to the benefits and drawbacks discussed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, a paragraph on long holidays, a paragraph on shorter holidays, and a conclusion. The contrast signalled by “However” helps readers follow the shift between the two sides, while “Firstly” and “Secondly” organise the arguments. However, some connections are mechanical or unclear. In the shorter-holidays paragraph, the relationship between students forgetting material and the time needed to revise it could be explained more smoothly. The final sentence, “Such as, giving shorter breakouts throughout the whole year,” is not well integrated with the conclusion. Use clearer referencing and link each example directly to the point it supports.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use vocabulary relevant to the topic, including “refreshment,” “outdoor activities,” “inequality,” and “revise,” and you attempt to express ideas about family life and education. However, spelling errors and inaccurate word choices are noticeable and sometimes make the reader pause. Examples include “practicle,” “measurments,” “intrest,” “discourging,” and “knoweldge.” Some combinations are also unnatural, such as “engagement of different activities” and “present ongoing lesson plans.” Aim for accurate spelling and more natural collocations, and avoid repeating general words such as “helpfull” and “activities.” This would make your meaning more precise and easier to read.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a contrastive sentence beginning “although” and a clause explaining that students may forget what they learned. However, errors in sentence structure, agreement, and verb forms occur in several places and can make relationships between ideas unclear. For example, “It gives them time” does not agree clearly with the plural subject “Long school holidays,” and “They get enough time engage” is missing a grammatical link before the verb. The sentence beginning “While, for some of the wealthy families” is also incomplete. Work on complete sentence construction, subject–verb agreement, and accurate verb patterns, then check punctuation around introductory and linking words.

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