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)

It is often argued that schools provide summer holidays to primary and secondary class students during summer. While, these lengthy holidays might give students a time replenish themselves, but others argue that shorter breaks are more beneficial for knowledge retention.

Lengthy summer breaks are a advantage to the students who try to build their extra curriculum by following their interest in making new hobbies. Because, most of the students will not be able to enjoy or concentrate on their hobbies during school. Which, leaves them limited to outside knowledge. In that 3 months of break they play and enjoy without any stress on academic learning. For instance, a students who wants to play cricket is not able to play because of the school timings and the assignments to complete after schools hours which makes him feel isolated to academic progress rather than other activities.

Whereas, others argue that shorter breaks are more beneficial because, shorter breaks make students to retain their previous class knowledge. Schools can provide occasional breaks between the academic so that a long holiday would not be required. Additionally, if break is provided for longer period than they can provide summer camp to teach activities like dance, signing, and more which are relaxing activities to students.

In conclusion, even though long summer holidays provide time for students to relax and enjoy with family members, if its not utilized efficiently then its not worth it. Whereas, schools providing shorter breaks and implementing occasional holidays to not stress the pupils and adding extra activities during summer break will boost children's brain

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. However, the development of ideas is somewhat uneven. The argument regarding extracurricular activities is relevant, but the explanation of how shorter breaks aid knowledge retention is underdeveloped. The conclusion introduces a new point about 'summer camps' that was not fully integrated into the body paragraphs, which weakens the overall structure. To improve, ensure each main idea is supported by a clear, logical explanation and a specific example, and avoid introducing new arguments in the conclusion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into paragraphs, but the flow between and within them is sometimes disjointed. There is an over-reliance on basic cohesive devices like 'Whereas' and 'Additionally', and some sentences are fragmented, such as 'Which, leaves them limited to outside knowledge.' The use of punctuation is also problematic, with several sentences starting with conjunctions or being incorrectly separated by commas. Improving the use of transition signals and ensuring that each paragraph has a clear topic sentence would significantly enhance the logical progression of the argument.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks precision and variety. There are some noticeable errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'replenish themselves' (which is slightly unnatural in this context) and 'extra curriculum' (should be 'extracurricular activities'). The repetition of words like 'breaks' and 'holidays' limits the range. To achieve a higher band, you should aim to use more precise academic vocabulary and ensure that collocations are accurate, such as 'academic performance' instead of 'academic progress' in the context of isolation.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay relies heavily on simple sentence structures, and there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede readability. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('a students who wants') and incorrect sentence fragments ('Which, leaves them...'). The use of articles is also inconsistent, such as 'a advantage' instead of 'an advantage'. While there is an attempt to use complex sentences, they are often punctuated incorrectly, leading to run-on sentences or fragments. Focusing on basic sentence construction and proofreading for subject-verb agreement would help improve the accuracy of your writing.

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

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