Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-08-27

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)

In numerous nations, some people argue that primarily level or secondary school should close for two or more months for vacations in hot season .While other believe that shorter holidays are best. In this essay, I will discuss both arguments and also share my opinion.

On one side of argument, proponents of long holidays consider that summer breaks are crucial for students. So, they can take break from their studies. For instance, every student have their own planes vacations like, a child at secondary school want to go somewhere in summer holidays. As well as, certain want to explore some new places to enhance their knowledge. In additions, some people prefer long summer holidays because they want to make their children as an integral part of clubs or sports courses .However, long holidays can make kids lazy.

On the other hand, critics say that schools should offer shorter summer breaks ,because holidays for two or more months have different impacts on kids. Summer breaks are necessary to minimize the pressure on the shoulders of the children. After short break they can easily return to their routine due to the fact some public prefer vacations for 1 or two weeks. This will also help them to feel fresh.

From my point of view, long summer vacations has also side effect with benefits, because this can make them stress free but also diminish there motivational activities.

In conclusion, although long summer break are high valued but most people prefer short breaks. So in my opinion , short term vacations are best and if schools are offering long holidays they should assign some hard work to students.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt, discussing the value of long holidays and the arguments for shorter ones. However, the development of ideas is somewhat superficial. For example, the mention of 'planes' (plans) and 'clubs' is vague and lacks specific, well-developed examples to support the points. The position is clear, but the arguments are not fully extended. To improve, you should provide more detailed explanations and concrete examples for each point, ensuring that the connection between the ideas and the prompt is explicit and logically sound throughout the essay.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into paragraphs, which is a positive feature. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or inaccurate. For instance, 'As well as, certain want to explore' and 'In additions' are used incorrectly or with grammatical errors. The progression of ideas is sometimes disjointed, particularly in the transition between the benefits of long holidays and the potential for laziness. While there is an overall logical structure, the lack of sophisticated linking words and the occasional misuse of referencing make the flow feel somewhat repetitive and forced.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. There are several instances of word-choice errors, such as 'primarily level' instead of 'primary level', 'planes' instead of 'plans', and 'hot season' instead of 'summer'. The use of 'hard work' is quite informal and imprecise in this context. To achieve a higher score, you should focus on using more academic collocations and precise terminology related to education and time management, while also ensuring that spelling errors are minimized.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Common issues include subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'every student have', 'vacations has'), incorrect article usage, and punctuation errors (e.g., unnecessary spaces before commas). While the meaning is generally understandable, the high frequency of these errors prevents the writing from reaching a higher band. You should focus on proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy, specifically checking for pluralization, verb tense consistency, and correct sentence punctuation.

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

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