Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-07-26

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 6.5)

In most countries, schools provide summer holidays for more than or equal to two months.Summer holidays are the best holidays for the students to get refresh and relax due to long break.

Due to scorching heat in the summer, several schools declares holiday for the kids to stay safe from the heat waves. These long school holidays give opportunity to children to learn extracurricular activities such as swimming, dancing, singing and others, which they cannot learn at the schools. So, students can find interest and passion in the other activities other than studies. Some students even attend competitions based on the training they do long summer break. As a result , a few students even pursue these activities as their career.

In some places, schools declare summer holidays for less than a month. In this short period, children do not have enough time to explore other activities. A few students try to learn basics of the next semester. This helps the students to take time and understand the new chapters. As a result, when classes begin after the short summer break, it help students to understand the things quickly and spend more time in practicing the problems. Moreover, a few parents take their children on vacation in the short summer break. So, children feel relaxed and refresh themselves. As a result, when classes begin they can start school with the fresh mind.

Finally, long summer holidays enables children to explore other activities, which a quite amount of time to learn it, whereas for short summer breaks, some parents take their children on vacation to get some refreshment. Learning the fundamentals of the next class in the short summer break, help students to quickly grasp the concepts during the commencement of the classes.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: the value of long holidays and the arguments for shorter ones. The ideas are relevant, such as extracurricular development for long breaks and academic preparation for shorter ones. However, the development is somewhat repetitive and lacks depth. For instance, the discussion on extracurricular activities is a good start but could be supported by more specific examples or a clearer link to long-term benefits. The position is clear, but the overall structure feels more like a list of points rather than a fully developed argument. To reach a higher band, ensure that each point is extended with more detailed reasoning or illustrative examples.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is organised into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the progression of ideas. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Due to', 'As a result', and 'Moreover', though some are used repetitively or slightly awkwardly, such as the frequent use of 'As a result' at the start of sentences. The transition between the two main body paragraphs is logical, moving from the benefits of long holidays to the benefits of shorter ones. However, the concluding paragraph is somewhat weak as it simply restates previous points without synthesising them into a final thought or summary. Improving the variety of linking words would enhance the flow.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the student to communicate their ideas clearly. There are some attempts at topic-specific vocabulary, such as 'extracurricular activities', 'fundamentals', and 'commencement'. However, there are instances of imprecise word choice and minor errors, such as 'get refresh' (should be 'refreshed') and 'a quite amount of time' (should be 'a significant amount of time'). The range is sufficient to convey meaning but lacks the sophistication or precision required for higher bands. Focusing on collocations and more varied academic vocabulary would be beneficial.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors that affect the accuracy of the writing. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues like 'several schools declares' (should be 'declare') and 'it help students' (should be 'it helps students'). Additionally, there are minor punctuation and article errors throughout the text. While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. Increasing the variety of complex sentence structures and proofreading for basic subject-verb agreement would significantly improve the quality.

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