Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-08-21

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 6.5)

In many countries, primary and secondary students get holiday for almost two or more than two months during summer. Long school holidays provide several important benefit to the students, shorter holidays can also be beneficial for them. In this essay i will discuss the value of long school holidays and give argument in favour of shorter school holidays.

Long holidays is really essential and beneficial for the students because it gives enough time to rest and recover from all the pressure they felt from studying. After spending many month studying, preparing for exams, giving several tests, the students need enough time to rest and spend their time with the family members. During long holidays students can learn several things and skills which they could not due to the busy school schedule.

However, Shorter holidays are as beneficial as the longer one. The primary benefit of the shorter holidays is the students are less likely to forgot what they read just a few days ago. Many students tends to forgot what they read due to long holidays as they do not study as they have to during school days. The hard subject such as science and mathematics need more practice and study time, if the students are given long break then they are more likely to forget all the basic important information. The another benefit of shorter holidays is that the teachers can finish their curriculum in time or earlier which can result in more time for preparation for exam or even the revision for the topics students finds hard.

In conclusion, long school holidays are beneficial because they allow students to have enough rest and recovery from studying. They can learn several activities which they could not during the school days due to academic pressure. Nevertheless, shorter holidays are as much as beneficial as the longer one, they allow students to retain their knowledge. Shorter holidays helps to maintain their academic knowledge. In my opinion, longer holidays are important but it should not be really long that students loose their basic academic knowledge.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: the value of long holidays and the arguments for shorter ones. The position is clear throughout. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, the point about 'learning new skills' during long holidays is mentioned but not exemplified, and the argument regarding 'curriculum completion' for shorter holidays is a good point but could be expanded with more detail. To reach a higher band, ensure that each main idea is supported by a specific example or a more detailed explanation to fully develop the argument.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the two main arguments. Cohesive devices such as 'However', 'In conclusion', and 'Nevertheless' are used to link ideas. However, there is some repetitive phrasing, such as 'the students' and 'the holidays', which makes the flow feel slightly mechanical at times. Additionally, some transitions between sentences within paragraphs could be smoother to improve the overall progression of ideas.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express ideas clearly. There are attempts to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'curriculum', 'academic pressure', and 'retain their knowledge'. However, there are several instances of word-choice errors and awkward collocations, such as 'give argument' (should be 'provide arguments') and 'the another benefit' (should be 'another benefit'). Furthermore, there are minor errors in word forms, such as 'benefit' used as a noun where an adjective might be more natural, or 'loose' instead of 'lose'.

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, particularly with subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'Long holidays is', 'Many students tends to forgot') and verb tense/form (e.g., 'students are less likely to forgot'). Punctuation is generally functional, but there are some run-on sentences and comma splices. To improve, the student should focus on basic subject-verb agreement and ensuring that infinitives and past participles are used correctly after modal verbs or 'to'.

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