Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-12
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)
Long summer holidays are given to primary and secondary level students in many nations it often last for around two months or even longer period of time. Prolonged holidays can improve relationship of parents and childrens while it might negatively affect the overall academic performance.
When lengthy vacations are given to the pupils it helps to build the strong connection with parents. Long summer holidays give students enough family time to emotionally attached and feel the sense of belongingness which can make them mentally strong.For example, during regular school time there is always a pressure of attending the school and completing the assignments so, family time is like minimum or non. Additionally, during long holidays, students can learn a new skills or do a part-time job. There is lot of free time during vacations so, utilizing this time by learning a valuable life skills like cooking, cleaning or other techincal skills benefit them during adulthood.
However, this trend can negatively affect the discipline of the student which takes very long time to build. Waking up early for school and doing the assignments on time is a habit so if long vacations are given these habits can be disrupted and negatively affect the academic performace of the student when schools are resumed.For instance, feeling lazy during holidays are one of the characteristics of every student so, habit of laziness is more likely to adapted by students.
In conclusion, school vacations are necessary part of school life as it give more family time and students can live in stressful situation however, prolonged vacations can negatively affect the academic performance so, intermediated vacation time should be allocated.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both the value of long school holidays and the arguments in favour of shorter ones. The student outlines clear ideas regarding family bonding and skill development for the first part, and the disruption of routines and academic decline for the second. However, some arguments lack full extension and suffer from generalisations, such as the claim that feeling lazy is a characteristic of every student. The position is clear throughout, but the development of ideas would benefit from more specific or well-reasoned examples rather than brief assertions. Overall, the task is addressed adequately, placing it at a Band 6.0 level for Task Achievement.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing, separating the introduction, the value of long holidays, the counter-arguments for shorter holidays, and the conclusion. Logical progression is evident as each paragraph focuses on a distinct theme. However, cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or faulty, such as the abrupt transitions between sentences and issues with referencing, like 'this trend' or 'intermediated vacation time'. Punctuation is also occasionally missing or intrusive, creating run-on constructions like 'so, family time is like minimum or non.' Despite these flaws, the writing is easy to follow overall, supporting a Band 6.0 score.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common words and phrases such as 'belongingness', 'prolonged holidays', and 'academic performance'. However, there are noticeable word-choice errors, unnatural collocations, and grammatical infelicities, such as 'relationship of parents and childrens', 'emotionally attached', 'family time is like minimum or non', and 'intermediated vacation time'. Spelling errors also occur, such as 'techincal' instead of 'technical' and 'performace' instead of 'performance'. Because these lexical errors do not seriously impede communication, the vocabulary reaches the Band 5.5 to 6.0 threshold, fitting comfortably at Band 6.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some capability with subordinate clauses (e.g., 'While it might negatively affect...'). However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in article usage, pluralisation, and subject-verb agreement, such as 'Long summer holidays are given... in many nations it often last', 'pupils it helps', and 'habit of laziness is more likely to adapted'. Punctuation errors are also prominent, particularly comma splices and missing commas. Although these errors do not completely obscure the meaning, their frequency prevents the essay from achieving a higher score, making Band 5.5 a fair and accurate evaluation.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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