Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-08-22
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 countries many schools remain close in summer season for 2 to 3 months.
The value of long holidays is to make enjoyable and relax able for students. It gives a student to give a chance to spend time with their families. Long day holidays are valuable because students need a break after studying for many months. During summer, they can travel , play sports, enjoy hobbies, and spend quality time with family. These activities helps students to feel fresh.
On the other hand , shorter day holiday helps students to connected with studies. Because after a long student forget how they learned in previous classes and they take a long time to revise them. Shorter holidays can reduce this problem because student can regularly go to student and this problem can be reduced.
In my opinion, both types of holidays are useful for students. But I prefer shorter day holidays because they make the students to connected with their students. Therefore, schools should try to find better scheduled system for holidays that supports both student study and mind.
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 response is significantly under the 250-word minimum, which severely limits the development of ideas. The arguments are presented in a very basic manner without sufficient supporting examples or detailed explanation. For instance, the point about students forgetting material is mentioned but not expanded upon with specific evidence or logical depth. Because the response is only 180 words, it fails to meet the requirements for a full task response, leading to a lower score in this criterion.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organised into three short paragraphs, which provides a basic structure. There is some attempt at logical progression, using transition words like 'On the other hand' and 'In my opinion'. However, the cohesion is often mechanical and sometimes awkward, such as the repetitive use of 'student' and 'holidays'. The paragraphing is functional but lacks the sophistication required for higher bands. The flow of ideas is somewhat disjointed due to the brevity of the sentences and the lack of complex cohesive devices to link the arguments together effectively.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary is limited and repetitive. Words like 'students', 'holidays', and 'useful' are used frequently, indicating a lack of range. There are also errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'relax able' (should be 'relaxing') and 'connected with their students' (which is confusing and likely meant 'studies'). The student struggles to use less common lexical items, relying on basic, high-frequency vocabulary. To improve, the student needs to expand their range of synonyms and focus on using words in their correct grammatical context.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The response relies heavily on simple sentence structures. While there are some attempts at complex sentences, they are often marred by grammatical errors, such as 'These activities helps students' (subject-verb agreement error) and 'make the students to connected' (incorrect verb form). Punctuation is generally acceptable, but the overall control of grammar is inconsistent. The frequency of errors, particularly with verb forms and sentence construction, indicates a limited range of structures. More practice with complex sentence patterns and careful proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy is necessary.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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