Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-08-19
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 5.0)
In many nations, primary and secondary schools close for two months or more in the summer holidays. Long school holidays are benificals but also shorter holidays create focus student study.
On the one hand, main reason long school holidays are beneficial is learn another skill. This means that when students have long school holidays they learn many skills such as cooking and computer skill. They improve their knowledge and help in the future. when student have free time they mostly take time their goals. This is beneficial for their future because they learn many things in their free time. Therefore, long holidays are important in student life beacuse they can learn many things.
On the other hand, the major reason why shorter school holidays crucial in student life beacause of connect with studies. To elaborate, when student have short holidays they always connect with studies and and always focus on his work. Due to this reason students knowledge improve they can better perform in exam time. Mostly, student happy when they have short break because they do not get bored. Therefore, short holidays are good rather than long holidays.
To conclude, even though there are both reasons are beneficial because long holidays beneficial for another skill and short holidays are important for continue focus on study.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response addresses both parts of the prompt, discussing the value of long holidays and the arguments for shorter ones. However, the essay is significantly under the 250-word minimum, which limits the depth of development. Ideas are presented but remain superficial; for instance, the mention of 'learning skills' is not supported by specific examples or a clear explanation of how this benefits a student's long-term development. The position is clear, but the lack of length prevents a fully developed argument, leading to a lower band score.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organized into paragraphs, and there is a basic attempt at logical progression using transition words like 'On the one hand' and 'To conclude'. However, the cohesion is often mechanical and repetitive. Some sentences lack clear links to the previous ones, and the flow is hindered by grammatical errors. Referencing is sometimes unclear, such as in the phrase 'even though there are both reasons are beneficial', which is syntactically broken and makes the conclusion difficult to follow. The paragraphing is present but the internal structure of the paragraphs is weak.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary is limited and repetitive, relying on basic terms like 'good', 'important', and 'learn'. There are several spelling errors, such as 'benificals' instead of 'beneficial' and 'beacuse' instead of 'because'. The range of vocabulary is insufficient to express complex ideas with precision. While the meaning is generally conveyed, the lack of variety and the frequent errors in word choice and spelling prevent the response from reaching a higher band. More sophisticated collocations and topic-specific vocabulary are needed to improve this score.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The essay relies heavily on simple sentence structures. There are frequent grammatical errors, including missing articles ('in student life'), incorrect verb forms ('student knowledge improve'), and subject-verb agreement issues ('student happy'). Complex sentence attempts are often faulty, such as 'the major reason why shorter school holidays crucial in student life beacause of connect with studies'. Punctuation is also inconsistent. These errors occur throughout the text and occasionally impede the reader's understanding of the intended meaning. A wider range of error-free complex structures is required for a higher score.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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