Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-08-26

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 4.5)

There is a debate among people that schools just focus on teaching students instead of focusing on their active participation in physical activities. I believe that the main purpose of the schools is not to teach them only, their overall development is equally important. Participation of students in sports, speech and other competitions plays an essential role in students overall development.

Initially, some people believe that schools just focus on formal learning instead of working on students overall development. Nowadays, schools motivate students to focus on course subjects instead of conceptual learning. Teachers give them extensive home tasks that take too long to solve. In this way, students do not find free time to participate in other physical activities. For example, entensive assignments are assigned to students for the next day assessment. Students work hard for the next day test and try their best to prepare well for it. From my perspective, the educational institutes should focus on organizing different competitions on the school level like cricket match, speech competitions and other activities. These competitions motivate the students to work hard and also give them a sense of competition which they enjoy a lot. These activities are very essential for the students overall development. Such activities also boost their confidence

I believe that it's very essential for children to play as well as learn in their classrooms. They try their best to do something better infront of their classmates. They feel like there is an competition with their classmates and try their best to beat them. In this environment, they learn different things from each other and try to improve themselves. They learn how to behave and communicate with teachers and fellows. It's beneficial for their development.

In the conclusion, schools try to keep the students attention just on studies instead of sports or other activities. However, the students overall development are crucial. In my opinion, the students should focus on their studies as well as on other activities like playing different physical games that helps to keep them physically fit.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 3.0

The response is completely off-topic. The prompt asks for a discussion on the value of long summer school holidays and arguments for shorter ones. Instead, the essay discusses the balance between academic study and physical activities/sports in schools. Because the response fails to address the specific requirements of the prompt, it cannot be assessed as a relevant answer to the task. While the student provides some ideas about school life, they do not relate to the topic of summer holidays at all. Consequently, the task achievement is severely impacted by this failure to address the prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay is organised into paragraphs, and there is a basic attempt at logical progression. However, because the content is irrelevant to the prompt, the overall coherence suffers. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Initially', 'For example', and 'In the conclusion', but these are often used mechanically. The referencing is sometimes unclear, and the flow of ideas is hindered by the fact that the arguments do not support a central thesis related to the actual task question. Paragraphing is present, but the internal structure of the arguments is repetitive.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is adequate for basic communication but lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. The student uses repetitive phrasing, such as 'overall development' and 'focus on', which appears multiple times. There are some spelling errors, such as 'entensive' instead of 'extensive' and 'infront' instead of 'in front'. The range of vocabulary is limited to common, everyday words, and there is little evidence of an attempt to use less common lexical items or idiomatic expressions effectively. The word choice is generally functional but lacks sophistication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student uses a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues (e.g., 'the students overall development are crucial') and awkward phrasing (e.g., 'There is a debate among people that schools just focus on...'). Punctuation is generally acceptable, but the control over complex structures is inconsistent. While the errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to demonstrate a lack of control over more complex grammatical forms, keeping the score in the mid-range.

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

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