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)

Break from every designation is very important for maintaining a good wellbeing of an individual. however various country have different thoughts on these break. As aa result these could be helpful for visiting to loved ones and spending a whale of time with them. In contrast there are many unfavourable conditions for instance students might withdraw there attention from there studies additionally when they return from long summer breaks there thoughts on various topics vanished and there ideas got blurred.

Having a long holiday helps them to have a break from frustrated, monotonous and hectic daily routine. Though their attention is divided nevertheless they got new life experiences which might support them in many different area. It plays a significant role in an individual's life and they recall them in front of there next generations.

Arguments on having a short breaks are gradually increasing due to which students are not getting a good amount of experiences in holidays. Despite that holidays having short span helps students to focus more on there ideas which could lead them to built grades and focus more on there opportunity.

In my country there is summer holiday of approximately 2.5 months in which students with there family visits to various area to explore or visits there loved ones that might help them to gain knowledge about that specific area's culture and tradition.

To sum up long summer holidays comes with there significant affect as well as with there negative impact on one's mindset . I firmly believe that there should be some long holidays for student to make some memories that they could recall when life get tough.

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 somewhat superficial. For example, the argument that students 'withdraw their attention' is mentioned but not fully explored or supported with specific examples. The position is clear, but the explanation of the 'value' of holidays relies on general statements about 'life experiences' rather than concrete academic or developmental benefits. To improve, you should provide more detailed reasoning and specific examples to support your points, ensuring that each argument is fully extended rather than just stated.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into paragraphs, but the logical progression between ideas is often hindered by awkward phrasing and a lack of sophisticated cohesive devices. While you use some transition words like 'however' and 'in contrast', they are sometimes used incorrectly or placed awkwardly. The referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the final paragraph where 'there' is used repeatedly instead of 'their'. To reach a higher band, focus on using a wider range of linking words and ensuring that each sentence flows naturally into the next, maintaining a clear focus throughout each paragraph.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and variety required for a higher band. There are frequent errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'spending a whale of time' (likely a misuse of 'a whale of a time') and 'built grades' (likely meant 'better grades'). Additionally, there is a persistent confusion between 'there', 'their', and 'they're', which impacts the professional tone of the writing. To improve, focus on learning collocations and ensuring you use the correct form of words in context.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures, but grammatical accuracy is a significant issue. There are frequent errors in subject-verb agreement, such as 'holidays having short span helps' and 'long summer holidays comes'. Punctuation is also inconsistent, with missing commas and incorrect usage of conjunctions. These errors are frequent and occasionally make the reader work harder to understand the intended meaning. To improve, focus on basic sentence construction, subject-verb agreement, and proofreading for common grammatical slips.

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

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