Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-08-13

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 6.5)

Primary and secondary schools usually close for over two months for summer holidays. In my opinion, longer school holidays are important, but it can be substituted with shorter holidays and additional school activities.

Long school holidays can be an important aspect of overall student development if it is utilised properly. It can be an opportunity for students to explore fields outside their area of studies, which will diversify their overall knowledge. Furthermore, students can use it to gain some practical experience of what they studied in the school, it will improve their understanding of the subject and may also increase their interest in that particular area. Additionally, student can use it to refresh their minds, and then refocus when the school opens.

While holidays are important for students, longer holidays can sometime be detrimental to the student's growth. A large portion of students assume holidays as a vaccation, they think that it is a time when they don't have to study, which can have various negative effects. For example, a student will forget the theoretical lectures taught in the class, due to lack of practice in the holiday. In such cases, reducing the duration of the holiday will be fruitful for students, and the gained time can be used to develop collaborative habits in the student by encouraging them to take part in school organised hackathon or different similar activities.

In conclusion, I think long school holidays are important as they give students a chance to refresh their minds, or work on different aspects of their studies. But, making a holiday shorter can also be fruitful, by encouraging students for other activities that are not usually covered in a traditional class.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

You have addressed both parts of the prompt: the value of long holidays and the arguments for shorter ones. Your position is clear throughout the essay. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, when discussing the benefits of long holidays, you mention 'practical experience' and 'exploring fields' but do not provide concrete examples to illustrate these points. Similarly, the argument for shorter holidays could be strengthened by explaining how 'collaborative habits' specifically benefit students beyond just preventing knowledge loss. To reach a higher band, ensure that each main idea is supported by a specific, illustrative example or a more detailed explanation of the underlying logic.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. You use cohesive devices such as 'Furthermore', 'Additionally', and 'In conclusion' to signal the progression of your argument. However, some transitions are slightly mechanical, and the referencing is occasionally imprecise, such as the use of 'it' in the second paragraph, which lacks a clear antecedent. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the two main viewpoints. To improve, focus on using a wider variety of cohesive devices and ensuring that the relationship between sentences is always explicit and natural.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'detrimental', 'diversify', and 'theoretical'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation. For example, you use 'vaccation' (spelling error) and 'assume holidays as a vaccation', which is not idiomatic; 'view holidays as a vacation' would be more natural. Additionally, 'gained time' is slightly awkward; 'the time saved' would be more precise. While your vocabulary is sufficient to convey your meaning clearly, you need to incorporate more sophisticated, less common lexical items and improve your control over collocations to move into the higher bands.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are recurring grammatical errors that occasionally distract the reader. For instance, there are subject-verb agreement issues, such as 'student can use it' (should be 'students can') and 'a student will forget... due to lack of practice in the holiday' (missing article). There are also some punctuation errors, such as the comma splice in '...taught in the class, due to lack of practice...'. While these errors do not impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. Focus on proofreading for articles, pluralization, and comma usage to improve your accuracy.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.