Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-08-18

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 majority of nations, elementary school and high school close for two or more in summar holidays. While extend summar holidays has a vital for students rest, I belive short holidays are better for better academic and students progress.

On the one hand, extend the summar holidays are benifical for students rest and recovery. Kids get break from studies. Younger children get relief from burden of study. It is also benifical for families, they can spend quality time together and travel after over a long time. In holidays students do personal growth such as joining sports and learing new skills that will useful for them. They can explore their new hobbies.

On the other hand, shorter holidays are significant role in academic and children progress. At first, it assist to teachers to complete syllabus and stay focus of students in study. Afterwards, students forget less about academic with shorter holidays. Moreover, it helps a lot to parents like the parents who job and not stay every time with their children, so they hire a child care. Parents facing fewer child care problem in a year. Furthermore, continue academic will hepls in steady progess and students learn quickly. Some children adapt bad habits when they free, so its good if the holidays are shoter and school continues.

In conclusion, school holidays extend helps students to learn new skills, rest for study and good for spending family time at home but still shoter holidays are outweigh with steady progress and less learning loss.

AI examiner evaluation

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. The position is clear from the introduction. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. For example, the point about 'child care' is mentioned but not fully explained in terms of its broader societal impact. The arguments are relevant but rely on simple assertions rather than detailed elaboration or specific examples. To reach a higher band, you should aim to expand on your points with more depth and provide concrete illustrations to support your reasoning.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into clear paragraphs, each with a central theme. There is a logical progression from the introduction to the body paragraphs and the conclusion. However, the use of cohesive devices is sometimes mechanical or repetitive (e.g., 'At first', 'Afterwards', 'Moreover'). Some transitions are slightly awkward, such as 'Afterwards, students forget less about academic', which impacts the flow. While the paragraphing is appropriate, the internal cohesion within paragraphs could be improved by using a wider variety of linking words and ensuring that referencing is more precise.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. There are several spelling errors (e.g., 'summar', 'learing', 'hepls', 'shoter') and some word choice issues, such as 'extend summar holidays' instead of 'extended summer holidays' and 'continue academic' instead of 'continued schooling'. While the meaning is generally clear, the lack of sophisticated vocabulary and the frequency of spelling mistakes limit the score. To improve, focus on learning collocations and proofreading for common spelling errors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout. Issues include missing articles ('In majority of nations'), incorrect verb forms ('extend the summar holidays are benifical'), and subject-verb agreement errors ('school holidays extend helps'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with comma usage. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to be distracting. You should focus on mastering basic sentence construction and subject-verb agreement before attempting more complex structures.

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