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)

Different countires have different duration of summer vacations in their schools. In several nations they provide holidays with a duration two months and more, in primary and secondary schools. Long vacations have more value than the shorter vacations as students have more time to do more activities.

First and foremost, the students prefers to have a long vacation rather than a shorter vacation. The schools gives some specific tasks and homework to the students, and their mostly time is spent on doing these and they do not get time for extra curricular activities. For instance- A student who is interested in learning swimming and have planned to learn it in his 2 months summer holidays but his teacher gave him a dozen of homework which leads to cancelation of his plan. So longer summer vacation can be benefitial for students if they know how to manage the time properly.

Despite, there are some popular arguments that are in the favour of shorter school holidays. Mostly made by the parents, as per them longer holidays make their children lazy and it also annoys them as in holidays the schedule of children also gets distrupted by this. It can make them less efficient. Despite this many of the students fixes their life and their schedule.

In contrast, the longer the vacation the more mental peace students get and more skills they learn as they gets more time to learn them, schools should increase the time duration of the holidays so that students can also work on them selfs.

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 limited. The argument regarding the value of holidays is supported by a personal example, but the explanation remains superficial. Similarly, the arguments for shorter holidays are mentioned but lack depth, relying on general statements about laziness and disrupted schedules. To reach a higher band, you should expand on the implications of these arguments, such as the impact on academic retention or the socioeconomic benefits for working parents. The position is clear, but the overall development is basic.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or inaccurate. For example, 'Despite, there are some popular arguments' is grammatically incorrect and does not function well as a transition. Additionally, the referencing is sometimes unclear, such as in the final paragraph where 'work on them selfs' lacks a clear antecedent. While there is a logical progression from the benefits of long holidays to the counter-arguments, the flow between sentences is occasionally hindered by awkward phrasing and limited linking words.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The range of vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks precision and sophistication. There are several instances of word-choice errors and non-standard collocations, such as 'mostly time is spent', 'fixes their life', and 'work on them selfs'. These errors occasionally impede the flow of ideas. To improve, you should focus on learning more academic collocations and ensuring that words are used in their correct grammatical form. The vocabulary is generally repetitive, and you should aim to incorporate more varied synonyms to express your ideas more effectively.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout. Common issues include subject-verb agreement ('the students prefers', 'the schools gives'), article usage ('in holidays'), and pluralisation ('Different countires'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with the use of hyphens and commas. While the meaning is generally clear, the high frequency of errors in basic grammar structures prevents the essay from reaching a higher band. Focusing on proofreading for subject-verb agreement and basic sentence construction would significantly improve your score.

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