Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

In numerous nations, Primary and secondary education institute close for two months or more in the summer vacations. Long holidays have significant importance for learners to stay refresh while enjoying their vacation as well as invest their time in other activities. Even shorter school holidays have it's own value of engaging student to their study and organising syllabus in appropriate time period. Both the viewpoint is explained further in the ensuing paragraphs.

Examining the former viewpoint of importance of longer vacation. One key point is that, it often helps children to spend their quality time with friends and family members. As a result, they feel relax and refresh. For instance, in summer holiday, children have ampule time for playing with their friends because they do not have a burden of study. Furthermore, long school holidays plays a significant role to develop different skills and invest their time on extracurricular activities. Children can find out his or her interest. Therefore, they get their spare time to develop cognitive thinking in particular area of art, science and innovation.

To justify later viewpoint of the favour of shorter vacation. One favourable aspect is that, children can engage in their study. As a result, it helps them to stay productive and connected to their education.

Moreover, school can finish their syllabus easily without any disturbance. Therefore, young learners can understand the topic effectively. For instance, shorter holidays provide long time period for organising curriculum so that students do not feel any stress for learning subjects.

To conclude, primary and secondary schools provide two months or more summer vacation. Longer school vacation motivate children to develop skills and invest their time with families and friends while playing games and other activities. While shorter holidays often encourage students to concentrate on their study as well as school can meet the deadline of completing curriculum.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource6.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy6.0
Overall6.0

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: the value of long holidays and the arguments for shorter ones. The ideas are relevant, such as the benefits of family time and skill development for long holidays, and academic continuity for shorter ones. However, the development is somewhat superficial. For example, the point about 'cognitive thinking' is mentioned but not explained with specific examples or depth. The position is clear throughout, but the essay would benefit from more detailed elaboration to reach a higher band. Overall, it covers all requirements of the task effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the two main viewpoints. Cohesive devices such as 'Furthermore', 'As a result', and 'To conclude' are used to link ideas, although some transitions feel slightly mechanical. The referencing is generally clear, though the flow between sentences could be smoother in the second body paragraph. Overall, the progression of ideas is easy to follow, meeting the requirements for a Band 6.5 or 7.0 level of organization.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express ideas clearly. There are some attempts at less common vocabulary, such as 'extracurricular activities' and 'curriculum', which are used correctly. However, there are instances of word-choice errors and awkward phrasing, such as 'stay refresh' (should be 'refreshed'), 'ampule time' (should be 'ample'), and 'justify later viewpoint' (should be 'justify the latter viewpoint'). These errors do not impede communication, but they limit the range and precision of the lexical resource.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('long school holidays plays' instead of 'play') and incorrect pronoun usage ('it's own value' instead of 'its own'). Punctuation is generally functional, but there are minor errors in sentence construction. The majority of sentences are understandable, but the frequency of these small errors prevents the essay from reaching a higher band. More attention to verb forms and possessive pronouns is needed.

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

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