Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-08-31

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)

Many people argue that the primary and secondary schools in many countries remain close for a very long period of time in the summer holidays. I think it affects student in both terms, positively as well as negatively. In long summer holidays, the students can do online courses that would be very benefcial for them but unfortunately, it doesn't happened, most of time.

Usually in many Asian countries, the schools close for two or more months due to unbearably hot weather. There are several cases reported in recent years, that explained many kids fainted and even died because of extreme summer. Thats why, the government decided to give 2 or 3 months holidays in such countries. The mian advantage of long holidays is that students stay at home and get safe from harsh weather. Some student do online courses like digital marketing, graphic designing, Web development etc. Nevertheless, the are many students who just waste their time in sleeping or useless activities. Furthermore, they also forget the syllabus that they learned at school and after vacations, they become fully unprepared. In this way a lot of student dissipate their time in long vacation that affects them badly.

In contrast, the shorter school holidays have a very pleasant affect on students. It's a very good time for students to get relax from busy daily routine. Moreover, in shorter vacation, students usually do not forget their school work or syllabus unlike long school vacations. In shorter holidays, normally students have to assign any interesting project from the school, that engage them to learning even if they are at their homes.

Consequently, the short term holidays are better for student's mental health and their studies as well. But in long summer holidays students do not pay attention to their studies and even forget their syllabus too, because they spare their precious time in useless activities that do not influence their actual life.

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 repetitive. For instance, the point about students forgetting their syllabus is mentioned in both the second and third paragraphs. While the position is clear, the arguments lack depth and specific examples; the mention of 'Asian countries' is a good start, but the explanation of why shorter holidays are better for mental health is underdeveloped. To reach a higher band, you should provide more distinct, well-supported arguments for each side rather than repeating the same points.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. You use some cohesive devices such as 'Furthermore', 'Nevertheless', and 'In contrast' to signal shifts in the argument. However, the flow between sentences is occasionally mechanical, and some transitions feel forced. For example, the transition from the discussion of extreme weather to online courses is abrupt. Additionally, the referencing is sometimes unclear, such as in the phrase 'it doesn't happened', where the pronoun 'it' lacks a clear antecedent. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring smoother transitions between ideas would enhance the overall coherence.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, but it lacks the precision and range required for higher bands. You use some relevant topic-specific vocabulary like 'syllabus', 'digital marketing', and 'mental health'. However, there are several instances of awkward word choice and collocation errors, such as 'dissipate their time' (instead of 'waste' or 'squander'), 'pleasant affect' (should be 'effect'), and 'assign any interesting project' (should be 'be assigned'). To improve, focus on learning collocations and using more sophisticated synonyms to express your ideas more naturally.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede the flow. Common issues include subject-verb agreement ('it doesn't happened'), article usage ('in long summer holidays'), and pluralization ('Some student'). There are also punctuation errors, such as the missing apostrophe in 'student's' or 'Thats'. While the meaning is generally clear, these persistent errors in basic grammar prevent the essay from reaching a higher band. You should focus on proofreading your work to catch these small but frequent mistakes.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.