Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-09
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 the summer holidays, primary and secondary schools close for two months or more in many countries. In this essay, I will discuss the long vacations allow students to visit for long trip and enjoy time with family, and shorter vacations students find no longer gap in studies.
On significant advantage of longer vacations enable students to travel more because mostly students prefer travelling, when they have summer holidays. They may visit their favorite country where they wanted to go for a long time, so these holidays may perfect time for them. For example, a student dream days to spend more time in London, so these holidays may great opportunity for them to travel. These holidays are so important for students because they waited for long time. Furthermore, they may have enough time to spend a quality time with family because student’s school routine is busy as they don’t find time to do fun activities with them, such as, hiking and playing sports. As a result, these longer holidays would be a great chance for them to do more things whatever they want.
On the other hand, a shorter school holidays can helpful for students to connect with the studies because mostly students don’t prefer to open books in holidays and even don’t want to complete the summer homework. Students will forget everything in longer vacations when they don’t revise the lessons, they will find a problem in memorizing all the things. For example, a student may easily forget how to solve trigonometry problems because he will not prefer to solve this in holidays. Therefore, these short time of vacations may not affect their studies, and they will not forget their studies.
In conclusion, longer summer vacations allow students to go for a trip for a long period of time and they may have enough time to spend with family, and short span of vacations will not make create long gap in studies for students, as they will easily connect with the subjects when they join school after holidays.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
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. The ideas are relevant, such as travel and family time for the first part, and academic retention for the second. However, the development is somewhat repetitive and lacks depth. For instance, the example of 'trigonometry' is a good start, but the explanation remains superficial. The position is clear, but the overall development would benefit from more sophisticated reasoning and specific, real-world examples rather than generic scenarios. The essay covers all requirements, but the arguments are not fully extended, placing it at the lower end of the band.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organized into clear paragraphs, each with a central topic. There is a logical progression from the benefits of long holidays to the benefits of shorter ones. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or inaccurate. Phrases like 'On significant advantage' (should be 'One') and 'a shorter school holidays' (grammatical error affecting cohesion) show limited control. Referencing is sometimes unclear, and the flow between sentences can feel disjointed due to these errors. While the structure is coherent, the lack of sophisticated linking words and the presence of repetitive phrasing limit the score.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks range and precision. The student relies on basic terms like 'good', 'important', and 'fun activities'. There are several instances of word-choice errors, such as 'a shorter school holidays can helpful' and 'make create long gap'. These errors occasionally impede the flow of the text. While the student attempts to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'trigonometry' and 'vacations', the overall lexical control is limited. To reach a higher band, the student needs to use more precise collocations and a wider variety of academic vocabulary to express ideas more fluently.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'longer vacations enable' vs 'a shorter school holidays can helpful'), article usage, and sentence construction. For example, 'In this essay, I will discuss the long vacations allow...' is grammatically incorrect. While the meaning is generally clear, the high frequency of errors in basic grammar prevents the essay from reaching a higher band. The student needs to focus on basic sentence structure, specifically ensuring that subjects and verbs agree and that articles are used correctly.
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.