Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-08-06

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 recent years, schools are provide seedbed of knowledge. These schools are give a long vacation in summer season. The strong reason behind this, during summer season many pupils are exhausted due to excessive heat. Beside this, students are also suffer from various diseases.

After a whole year of study and hard work, children and teenagers are often tired and need a break in order to relax and recharge their energy to begin their new school year. Furthermore, these two months make them think about other things than studies. In addition to, students get chance to explore new places with their loved once. A trip for children get not only gain knowledge, but also make memories with their family as well as their friends. For instance, Nicolas Romero, a Spanish psychologist, sates that students return from their summer holidays with twice times much energetic as before the end of the academic period.

Moreover, having children fun is one of the biggest goals of their lives. Due to this, when they have some time off, they are going to spend as many hours as possible playing outside. Additionally, the results are much happier children who spent their times summer doing what they wanted to and being totally free for the first time of the year. In fact, it helps them to recover from the study and contributes to their happiness.

Conversely, we can not ignore the second point of view which argue that, short vacation has enormous drawbacks, because of the lack of time. Before the vacation begins, school teachers are give project work for vacation. Due to this project work, pupils do not have plenty of time to play with their friends. Apart from this, students do not have leisure time to improve their personal talents, such as singing, dancing and many more.

To conclude, the period of vacation in the summertime plays a crucial role in children. summer vacation is a very valuable thing for students because it helps them be more concentrated when they return, and their happiness increases notably.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: the value of long holidays and arguments for shorter ones. However, the development of ideas is somewhat superficial. For example, the argument regarding 'shorter holidays' is slightly confused, as the student discusses the drawbacks of 'project work' rather than the benefits of shorter holidays themselves. The position is generally clear, but the supporting arguments lack depth and specific examples. To improve, ensure that each paragraph directly answers the specific question posed in the prompt and provides more nuanced reasoning rather than relying on general statements about happiness or health.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a central theme. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Furthermore', 'In addition to', and 'Conversely', though some are used incorrectly, such as 'In addition to, students get chance...' which lacks a noun phrase. The progression of ideas is generally clear, but the flow is occasionally interrupted by awkward phrasing or grammatical errors that make the relationship between sentences less smooth. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the different aspects of the prompt.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks precision and variety. There are several instances of awkward word choice and collocation errors, such as 'schools are provide seedbed of knowledge' and 'twice times much energetic'. The student attempts to use some academic vocabulary, but the execution is often inaccurate. To reach a higher band, focus on using collocations correctly and expanding the range of vocabulary to include more precise academic terms rather than relying on repetitive or basic descriptors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there is a high frequency of grammatical errors throughout. Common issues include subject-verb agreement ('schools are give', 'students are also suffer'), incorrect verb forms ('schools are provide'), and missing articles or prepositions. While the meaning is generally understandable, these frequent errors impede the flow and demonstrate a lack of control over complex structures. To improve, focus on basic sentence construction, specifically ensuring correct verb tenses and subject-verb agreement before attempting more complex grammatical forms.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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