Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-14

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)

There is a long summer vacation in primary and secondary schools in many countries. From my perspective, long school closures have both advantages and disadvantages. In my opinion, there are two major advantages of a long school vacation in summer. During summer season, the temperature rise high in many countries. Due to extreme heat, students may suffer from health issues, particularly in schools having no cooling facilities. If schools remain closed, students can relax at home. The other value is that students can spend quality time with their parents and visit different places for entertainment. During school days, they have a lot of academic tasks such as assignments, tests, and presentations. With this busy schedule, they do not have sufficient time to communicate with their parents or go on vacation. However, they can get these opportunities during school holidays in summer.

On the contrary, there are many disadvantages of long school closures. Students may distracted from their studies. Due to a long beak, they may forget their previous lessons. It creates a learning gaps, particularly among struggling and low-performing learners. Due to the fact that many teachers and parents support shorter holidays in schools. Because if students regularly go to schools and attend classes, they will learn many things and remain connected with their lessons. Continuous classes will increase their ability to read and write. They will not be idle and become punctual. Shorter vacation provide opportunities for both spending time with families and engage with academic activities.

Therefore, shorter school holidays are more effective than long holidays regarding its academic and entertainment values.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing both the value of long school holidays and the arguments in favour of shorter ones. The writer successfully covers the health and family benefits of long holidays, as well as the drawbacks such as learning gaps and distraction. A clear position is maintained throughout the essay. However, some ideas could be extended further with more specific examples or deeper analysis to fully reach the higher bands. For instance, the discussion on learning gaps is introduced but remains somewhat brief. Nevertheless, all prompt requirements are fulfilled, aligning well with the Band 6.5 to 7.0 descriptors. Overall, the task response is clear, relevant, and adequately developed.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay demonstrates a clear overall progression, with distinct paragraphs dedicated to the introduction, the value of long holidays, the arguments for shorter holidays, and a brief conclusion. Cohesive devices are employed, such as 'From my perspective', 'The other value is', 'On the contrary', and 'Therefore', which help guide the reader through the arguments. However, referencing and paragraph internal cohesion can occasionally feel somewhat mechanical, particularly in the second body paragraph where sentences like 'Due to the fact that many teachers and parents support shorter holidays in schools' form sentence fragments or awkward links. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, but greater flexibility in logical transitions would be required for a higher band. Overall, the organization is coherent and easy to follow.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms such as 'vacation', 'entertainment', 'distracted', and 'punctual'. There are, however, some noticeable word choice and collocation inaccuracies throughout the text, such as 'temperature rise high' instead of 'temperatures rise significantly', 'a long beak' instead of 'a long break', and 'create a learning gaps' which contains a grammatical error alongside lexical awkwardness. Additionally, 'engage with academic activities' could be phrased more naturally. The vocabulary used is sufficient to convey the intended meaning, and occasional errors do not impede communication, placing the response firmly in the Band 6 category.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at conditional structures ('If schools remain closed, students can relax at home') and relative clauses ('schools having no cooling facilities'). However, there are several grammatical errors and awkward fragments present. For example, 'During summer season, the temperature rise high' contains missing articles and subject-verb agreement issues. Furthermore, the sentence 'Due to the fact that many teachers and parents support shorter holidays in schools' functions as a dependent clause fragment rather than a complete sentence. Errors in punctuation and grammar occur regularly, though they rarely impede overall comprehension. This balance of mixed structures and persistent errors reflects a solid Band 6 performance.

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