Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-08-24

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)

It is often claimed that , in modern era in many countries primary and secondary schools are closed in summer holidays . some child are more comfortable but some people think long school holidays are more valuable as compare with shorter school holidays

In this easy i will discuss some reasons , firstly long vacations are more helpful to child because child feel relax and comfortable their vacations . for instance a survey conducted with BBC news channel in 2002 if long 1, 2 months of holidays are mostly helpful to child health because after long time study child feel lathargic and stressful . moreover , after long time vacations help to child feel happy and freshness because after long study feel relax and more energeatic . furthermore , they spend time with family and goin on vacation and some time playing activities with their friends they feel very relax . in addition , long vacations help to child more happy .

moving further ahead , some people think long vacations have many side effects on child study . because after long vacations child cannot perform very well and some time feel tired . moreover, if child away from their study after long time they cannot concentrate proper their study . furthermore after long vacations child feel stress because they cannot participate on sports and feel lack of confidence because they cannot exprees

their feelings with their friends . In addition some time child feel very aggresive and they cannot consentrate properly their study and low result on their acedamics

overall , long time vacations are good for children life because after vacations they feel relax and away from stress and burrden moreover , sometime long time vacation effectchild study and their acedamics performance

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 limited and repetitive. For instance, the argument that children feel 'relaxed' is repeated multiple times in the first paragraph without adding new depth. The position is generally clear, but the supporting points lack specific detail or logical progression. The essay would benefit from more sophisticated reasoning rather than simply listing the same benefits and drawbacks in different ways. The conclusion is also somewhat contradictory, stating that long holidays are good but then immediately noting they have negative effects on performance.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into paragraphs, but the flow of ideas is often mechanical. While cohesive devices like 'moreover', 'furthermore', and 'in addition' are used, they are often placed at the start of every sentence, which makes the writing feel repetitive and formulaic. Referencing is sometimes unclear, such as in the phrase 'after long time vacations help to child feel happy', where the subject-verb relationship is disjointed. The progression of ideas within paragraphs is weak, as the sentences often feel like a list of points rather than a cohesive argument. Paragraphing is present but the internal structure needs more logical development.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is limited and repetitive. Basic words like 'child', 'study', 'relax', and 'vacations' are used throughout the text. There are several spelling errors, such as 'lathargic', 'energeatic', 'exprees', 'consentrate', and 'acedamics', which occasionally make the text difficult to read. The student attempts to use some topic-specific vocabulary, but the lack of precision and the frequent spelling mistakes prevent the use of a wider range of language. To improve, the student should focus on using synonyms and learning the correct spelling of common academic terms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay relies heavily on simple sentence structures. There are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with articles ('a survey conducted with BBC'), pluralisation ('some child'), and verb forms ('child feel relax'). Punctuation is also problematic, with spaces before commas and periods. Complex sentence structures are attempted but are often faulty, leading to confusion in meaning. For example, 'if child away from their study after long time they cannot concentrate proper their study' contains multiple errors in syntax and word choice. The frequency of these errors is high enough to cause some difficulty for the reader.

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