Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-06

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 6.0)

It is increasingly common in many countries for schools to close for two months or more in summer vacations. While extended school holidays offer several important benefits, shorter breaks can also provide considerable advantages.

There are several reasons why lengthy school holidays can be beneficial for students. Firstly they allow children to recover from their academic pressure. Students often spent most of the year spending their time in completing back to back assignments and preparing for examinations. Therefore, a prelong break can help them relax mentally and return to school feeling refreshed and motivated. For instance, students who have several weeks away from academic pressure they spend more their time with their families, travel or participate in recreational activities. Secondly, long holidays give children an opportunity to develope skills outside of the classroom. They can learn sports, persue hobbies and attend short courses that may not be possible during academic year.

However, shorter school holidays are also supported for several reasons. One major advantage is that students are less likely to forget what they have learned. After being away from school children might be able to struggle to remember previous taught concepts. Consequently, teachers may need to spend considerable time to reviewing old tasks instead of preparing new topics. For instance, shorter breaks could help students to be more focused and motivated throughout the period. In addition, shorter holidays can make life easy for the working parents, as they do not have to arrange childcare for long period.

In conclusion, longer breaks can help students to learn new skills and opportunities to rest and spend their time with families. However, shorter breaks could help childrens with more focused on academic career and less burden for working women. Overall, i believe a balanced approach, with long breaks thoughout the period, would be the most beneficial.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: the value of long holidays and the arguments for shorter ones. The ideas are relevant and clearly presented. The position is consistent throughout, and the conclusion provides a balanced summary. However, the development of ideas is somewhat basic. For example, the point about 'working women' in the conclusion is a new, slightly underdeveloped point that was not fully explored in the body paragraphs. To reach a higher band, ensure that all arguments mentioned in the conclusion have been thoroughly expanded upon in the body paragraphs with more specific examples or deeper analysis.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized with clear paragraphing. Each paragraph has a central theme, and the progression of ideas is easy to follow. Cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Secondly', 'However', and 'In addition' are used effectively to link sentences and paragraphs. While the flow is generally smooth, some transitions feel slightly mechanical. The referencing is mostly clear, though the connection between the final conclusion and the preceding arguments could be more tightly integrated. Overall, the essay demonstrates a clear structure that supports the reader's understanding of the arguments.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is sufficient to convey the intended meaning clearly. There is an attempt to use topic-specific vocabulary such as 'academic pressure', 'recreational activities', and 'childcare'. However, there are some minor errors in word formation and collocation, such as 'prelong break' (prolonged), 'develope' (develop), and 'persue' (pursue). Additionally, the phrase 'make life easy for the working parents' is slightly informal. To improve, focus on refining word forms and incorporating a wider range of less common lexical items to demonstrate more precision and stylistic awareness.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are several grammatical errors that occur throughout the text. Examples include 'Students often spent most of the year spending their time in completing' (tense inconsistency), 'previous taught concepts' (should be 'previously'), and 'childrens' (incorrect pluralization). There are also issues with article usage and preposition placement. While these errors do not impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. Increasing the variety of error-free complex structures will help improve this score.

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.