Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

In many countries, primary amd secondary schools close for two months or more in the summer holidays. In many countries the schools are close for three month due to the hot temperature.

However, summer holidays is the only time when students get time to feel relax from their busy routine. Many students have usually planned their shedule for holidays before summer vacations. Many students travels during holidays and explore the beauty of the world. Many students utilizes their summer vacations nicely by learning a new skill or focus on their hobbies. Even many adult students spend their holidays by working in cafe or restaurents to earn some money. So they can buy the toys or games by themselve. For example, in many countries during summer holidays they loves to spend their time in their hobbies like swimming, sports and riding and they even try to become more professional in their hobbies.

Furthermore, many people argue that summer holidays should be shorter. If students are focusing on their studies 10 months a year then their is no issue if they get two month holidays in summers. Many students feel pressurize during the exams. And summer vacations is a time they can focus on their hobbies and they can give time to their hobbies. For example in many countries schools do not gives holidays except sunday or their is a occasion. But they give holidays for two months so they can enjoy.

In my opinion, their should be summer holidays for students so they can learn the skills they wanted so. By traviling or visiting the places they wanted to visit. And parents should spend their time with children's during the summer holidays.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response addresses both parts of the prompt, discussing the value of long school holidays and the arguments in favour of shorter ones, along with a personal opinion. However, the ideas are relatively basic and repetitive. For example, the student repeatedly mentions hobbies and skills without fully developing the arguments or providing robust, detailed support. While the general position is clear throughout, the development tends to rely on simplistic generalizations rather than well-extended points. This places the response comfortably at Band 5.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay demonstrates some organizational structure with clear paragraph breaks separating the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. However, the overall progression is somewhat disjointed due to repetitive sentence starters and limited cohesive devices. Words like 'many' and 'also' are overused, and transitional phrases are basic or occasionally missing. Referencing is sometimes unclear, such as the ambiguous pronoun use in 'so they can buy the toys or games by themselve'. Paragraphing is present, but internal cohesion is mechanical, reflecting the descriptors for Band 5.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is relatively limited and repetitive, with frequent spelling and word-choice errors, such as 'amd' for 'and', 'shedule' for 'schedule', 'travils' for 'travels', and 'restaurents' for 'restaurants'. There are also grammatical word-form errors like 'feel relax' instead of 'feel relaxed' and 'traviling' instead of 'travelling'. While the vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey basic ideas about school holidays, the noticeable errors and lack of sophisticated lexical items restrict the score to Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control is inconsistent. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('the schools are close', 'schools do not gives'), incorrect verb tenses, and punctuation mistakes. For instance, fragments like 'And summer vacations is a time...' disrupt the flow. Complex structures are often faulty, and errors regularly cause some difficulty or hesitation for the reader, aligning with the Band 5.0 descriptors.

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

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