Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-04

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)

Holidays play a vital role in children development. There is an ongoing debate between whether to close schools for two months or more in the summer holidays. From my perspective, summer holidays are very essential for children. This essay will give reasons for arguments and relevant examples to acknowledge the topic.

This paragraph will discuss some bright side of summer holidays. Firstly, students can get break from whole year academic pressure and stress.

After studying whole year, they feel tired and exhausted thus, they can relax and can spend quality of time with family that results in strong inter-personal relationship. They get motivated by their personal choice and get break from dairy routine. Longer holidays not only improves their mental health but also improves physical health.

Moreover, students can get time to perform extra-curricular activities like dancing, swimming, skating, karate, sports and many more. Its get opportunities to learn new things. Spending time on extra-curricular activities can improves social skills and enhances problem-solving competency. Students can spend time on personal interest such as drawing, painting, reading and so on and ultimately develops confidence and critical thinking. It enhances cognitive development. Students can travel and experience new places and different cultures and traditions thus they can respect each and every culture.

Conversely, sometimes students can spend excessive time on television, social media and video games. Nevertheless, parents should monitor their children activity regularly and set screentime accordingly.

In conclusion, longer summer holidays play a significant role in children growth, but it should be managed properly and utilize for children growth

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 is somewhat uneven. While the benefits of long holidays are explored with several examples (e.g., extra-curricular activities, cognitive development), the counter-argument regarding shorter holidays is underdeveloped. The student mentions the risk of excessive screen time but does not fully explore the educational or economic arguments for shorter holidays, such as preventing learning loss or assisting working parents. The position is clear, but the essay would benefit from more balanced depth between the two sides of the argument.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into logical paragraphs, and there is a clear progression of ideas. However, the use of cohesive devices is somewhat mechanical and repetitive. For example, the transition 'This paragraph will discuss...' is unnecessary and formulaic. Additionally, some sentences lack smooth connections, such as the abrupt transition between the benefits of extra-curricular activities and the mention of travel. While the paragraphing is functional, the internal flow within paragraphs could be improved by using a wider variety of linking words to connect ideas more naturally rather than relying on simple list-like structures.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the student to express ideas clearly. There are some attempts at less common vocabulary, such as 'inter-personal relationship' and 'cognitive development'. However, there are several instances of awkward phrasing and word choice errors, such as 'bright side of summer holidays' (should be 'benefits'), 'dairy routine' (likely meant 'daily'), and 'Its get opportunities' (grammatically incorrect). The range is sufficient to communicate, but the lack of precision and occasional errors in collocation prevent a higher score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors that, while not impeding communication, are noticeable. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('Longer holidays not only improves...'), missing articles ('get break from whole year'), and incorrect verb forms ('can improves social skills'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with comma usage. While the student attempts complex structures, the control over these is inconsistent, leading to a reliance on simpler, sometimes flawed, sentence patterns.

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

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