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)

Introduction:

in many countries, the summer holidays of two months for primary and secondary schools are some time benefical for students and some time difficult.

Explanation:

The long summer holidays for two months of primary and secondary scools are benefical for doing some rest and relaxation for students. They can make our mind fresh and relax in these two months and doing many activities in this time. They spend alot of time with our family at home and sometimes go to visit many northern areas of our country. And many of them students they can go to our village with family and enjoy a lot of time with friends cousins and siblings. Many student prefer to go in long holidays to our village because in village a peaceful environment and pleasent weather .The village is surrounded by green hills make area cool and pleasent. Most of them like travelling so they go to different places and visit them and keep our mind fresh . The students make many beautiful memories and do much activities like art work they give mental refreshment . They have playing games ,reading books and some are interested in sports . All of them are enjoying with different ways .Like ,gardening to grow new plants and flowers ,playing games and the girls are happy to cook food and made new dishes.

In favour of shorter school holidays the students of primary and secondary schools in many countries have better learning skills and time. Because the daily routine of students are going in better way . The parents can manage short summer holidays of our children . The pressure of study is below less because they remember our syllabus and skills and have more study time .In short holidays they can enjoy with family and also maintain the study .

In my knowledge the shorter school holidays are good because less pressure of study can deal the students, otherwise they forget our syllabus and learning skills at the comparison of long holidays the students can only enjoy this time . In short holidays students can continue our school work and also enjoy and what the time they go to school they can learn things with our regular routine no difficulties they can face.

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 repetitive and lacks depth. For instance, the discussion on the benefits of long holidays focuses heavily on visiting villages and family, which is a narrow perspective. The arguments for shorter holidays are also somewhat underdeveloped, relying on general statements about 'better learning skills' without providing specific examples or logical progression. To improve, you should aim to expand on the academic or social implications of these holidays rather than listing activities.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into paragraphs, but the logical flow within them is often disjointed. The use of cohesive devices is limited and sometimes repetitive (e.g., starting multiple sentences with 'In short holidays'). Referencing is also problematic; the frequent use of 'our' when referring to students creates confusion, as it is unclear if you are speaking as a student or an objective observer. Paragraphing is present, but the transition between ideas is often abrupt, making the overall structure feel mechanical rather than fluid.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is generally basic and repetitive. There are frequent errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'doing some rest' instead of 'getting some rest' or 'pressure of study is below less'. The range of vocabulary is limited, and there is a lack of precision in expressing more complex ideas. You rely heavily on simple, high-frequency words. To reach a higher band, you should focus on learning topic-specific collocations related to education and time management, and work on using more varied and precise terminology.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede communication. There are consistent issues with subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'the daily routine of students are'), pronoun usage (the misuse of 'our' instead of 'their'), and sentence structure. Many sentences are fragmented or run-on. While there is an attempt to use complex structures, they are often inaccurate. You need to focus on basic sentence construction, specifically ensuring that subjects and verbs agree and that pronouns correctly refer to the intended noun.

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

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