Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-08-15
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)
The growing influence of holidays of longer and shorter values have become a huge debate between the different people's of the world because holidays are given to get the moral values from their parents and stress free environment to the the students.
Firstly,the main perspective of the longer holidays is that the children's of all ages get a chance to spend time with their elders to get the benefits of a normal routine of life.For instance,it includes family love, patience,advice, respect,love,care.Additionally,it also enables them to travel to a different place to spend some good time with their love one with full of adventures and amusing themselves by doing some other things which they have not done in their lives.That will increase their confidence and motivate them to do the things in a good way.Furthermore,shorter holidays have also some benefits like students are lesser time for enjoyment but much more time for the enhancing their skills in all fields of life by taking regular classes under the supervision of experts in their institute's.In the colder areas of the world students have more holidays as compared to the hotter areas.It is obvious that holidays which are given more have benefits and lesser also have advantages.There is no need of reducing holidays or increasing holidays in hotter of colder areas of the world.
Thus,to summarize that holidays are playing an important role in person's life.More holidays gave the moral lessons and lesser holidays gave them new skills to enhance in the students life.Both are beneficial for the students where they belongs in different parts of the world.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses both parts of the prompt: the value of long holidays and the arguments for shorter ones. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat superficial. For example, the benefits of long holidays are listed as a series of nouns ('family love, patience, advice') without sufficient explanation or context. The argument for shorter holidays is also brief, focusing on skill enhancement without providing concrete examples of how this would function in a school setting. To reach a higher band, you should expand on your points with more detailed explanations and specific, illustrative examples rather than just listing concepts.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The essay is organised into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. You use some cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Additionally', 'Furthermore', and 'Thus'. However, the use of these devices is sometimes mechanical or slightly unnatural, such as the transition into the discussion about colder versus hotter areas, which feels disconnected from the main argument. Additionally, there are issues with referencing and sentence-level flow, such as the repetitive use of 'holidays' and 'students'. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring that each sentence logically follows the previous one will improve the overall flow.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally adequate to convey your meaning, but it lacks the precision and range required for a higher band. There are several instances of awkward phrasing and word choice, such as 'holidays of longer and shorter values' and 'get the moral values from their parents'. You also rely on basic vocabulary and repeat words frequently. To improve, try to use more precise collocations and academic vocabulary. For instance, instead of 'get the benefits', you could use 'derive significant advantages' or 'foster personal development'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The essay contains a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Common issues include incorrect pluralisation (e.g., 'children's', 'people's', 'institute's'), missing articles, and subject-verb agreement errors (e.g., 'holidays are given more have benefits'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with spacing after commas. While the meaning is generally clear, these persistent errors in basic grammar prevent the essay from reaching a higher band. Focusing on proofreading for subject-verb agreement and correct plural forms would be highly beneficial.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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