Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-07-30

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)

Across the globe, all levels of educational institutions close for over two months during summer vacations. Since the break is necessary for all students to take some rest, and if given the opportunity, actively apply their learning in real life.

Firstly, with a competitive world and the increasing usage of technology since the COVID-19 pandemic, students have been forced to learn on screens with little human interaction in many countries. In addition, the introduction of artificial intelligence has threatened a lot of careers that were redundant. Therefore, the summer holidays can act as an opportunity for many students to get familiar with the more human side of the world and reconnect with their loved ones. Secondly, children get the opportunity to participate in a lot of extracurricular activities during this time, which many secondary school students might not get during regular school sessions due to increasing workload and assignments.

On the contrary, it is advised to keep children busy with learning activities most times. However, the extracurricular or other learning activities outside of school can put further financial burden on parents. Since most parents are not well-equipped with time, money, and other resources for over two months every year. This is where a lot of schools step in and focus on the overall development of a student during lectures and other school-designated activities, designed especially for students.

Therefore, it can be concluded that many parents prefer shorter summer vacations for their wards in their own financial as well as the ward's interest.

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. However, the development is somewhat limited. The first paragraph mentions the 'human side of the world' and 'extracurricular activities' as benefits, but these points are not fully extended with concrete examples. The argument for shorter holidays focuses on the financial burden on parents, which is a relevant point, but the conclusion is slightly abrupt and does not fully synthesize the previous arguments. To reach a higher band, ensure that each main idea is supported by a clear, illustrative example or a more detailed explanation of the cause-and-effect relationship.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. Cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Secondly', 'On the contrary', and 'Therefore' are used to guide the reader through the argument. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and the referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the sentence 'Since most parents are not well-equipped...', which is a sentence fragment dependent on the previous one. Improving the flow between sentences and ensuring that each paragraph has a clear topic sentence would enhance the overall coherence of the response.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, with some attempts at more sophisticated phrasing like 'educational institutions', 'extracurricular activities', and 'overall development'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'wards' (which is formal but perhaps slightly misused in this context) and 'threatened a lot of careers that were redundant'. The range is sufficient to convey meaning, but more precise and varied vocabulary would be needed for a higher score. Focus on using collocations more naturally to improve the precision of your writing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are several grammatical errors, such as the sentence fragment 'Since the break is necessary for all students to take some rest, and if given the opportunity, actively apply their learning in real life.' This lacks a main clause. Additionally, there are minor issues with punctuation and sentence construction, such as 'Since most parents are not well-equipped with time, money, and other resources for over two months every year.' Despite these errors, the communication is not impeded, and the grammar is generally functional.

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