Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-03

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 many countries worldwide, summer holidays are given for about two months or even more. Such kind of long breaks gives students a valuable time to concentrate on their extra curricular activities. In contrast, some arguments takes place in favor of shorter and frequent school holidays.

The primary advantage of obtaining long breaks is, students get time to focus on other activities such as sports, music etc; it helps to children for improving their skills other than education. Furthermore, it helps youngsters not to get exhausted from studies, it prevents from burnout. This period provides valuable time for children to pursue their hobbies. Extended breaks helps children for out side class experience. Children gets time to travel and explore different places and learn how society works. Summer holidays acts like a break between two academic years, so they can start freshly after getting promoted to higher standards. They learn different thing by going to summer camps, they get interacted with other children of same age.

On the other hand, arguments to reduce the time period of school holidays in taking place, highlighting the risk of students forgetting the key concepts of the lessons what they have learnt. The continuous flow of academics helps to memories the previous topic. Long breaks make students to feel relaxed, so they may get distracted. The biggest problem is faced by the working parents, they need to take long paid leaves to look after the children.

In conclusion, even there are many benefits from summer holidays to concentrate on different things. They get distracted and gets a pause from the flow, and disrupting over students' development.

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. While you mention benefits like extracurricular activities and burnout prevention, these points are not fully extended with specific examples or deeper analysis. The conclusion is also quite weak and slightly contradictory, as it fails to clearly summarise the balanced view presented in the body paragraphs. To improve, ensure each main idea is supported by a clear explanation or a concrete example, and ensure your conclusion provides a cohesive summary of your position.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. You use some cohesive devices such as 'Furthermore', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusion'. However, the use of these devices is sometimes mechanical or slightly inaccurate, such as the opening of the conclusion ('even there are many benefits'). Additionally, the flow within paragraphs is occasionally disrupted by awkward phrasing, such as 'Such kind of long breaks' and 'arguments to reduce the time period... in taking place'. Improving the variety and precision of your linking words will help the ideas transition more smoothly.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing you to convey your meaning clearly. You use some topic-specific terms like 'extracurricular activities', 'burnout', and 'academic years'. However, there are several instances of imprecise word choice and collocation errors, such as 'obtaining long breaks' (instead of 'having'), 'helps to children' (instead of 'helps children'), and 'get interacted' (instead of 'interact'). To reach a higher band, focus on using more natural collocations and avoiding repetitive phrasing. Expanding your range to include more sophisticated synonyms would also be beneficial.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, particularly with subject-verb agreement ('some arguments takes place', 'Children gets time', 'Summer holidays acts') and preposition usage. Some sentences are also structurally awkward, such as 'Long breaks make students to feel relaxed'. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to affect the overall fluency of the essay. Focusing on basic subject-verb agreement and refining your control over complex sentence structures will significantly improve your score.

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

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