Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

In recent years, there has been growing debate about whether primary and secondary schools should close for two months or more during the summer vacations. From my perspective, both arguments are equally important for individuals and society. Although longer holidays provide a break from stressful workload to students, I believe shorter vacations provide a better understanding of practical skills and improve ecademic performances.

On the one hand, there are several arguments which contributes to in favore of longer school vacations. Longer schools holidays provide more time to relax and helps to unwind because learners are frustated due to heavy workload. Moreover, students feel stressed because of regular assignments and tests. Therefore, they need more time to enjoy their own leisure time with their favorite activities. For instance, students can take part in extracurriculum activities, such as sports and swimming. Students could spend more time with their family and enjoy leisure hours during longer holidays.

On the other hand, shorter holidays also provides some benefits to students, such as they are able to review their syllabus without forgetting their previous topics. As a result, they need less revision when they return to school and improve academic performances. For example, students who have less study break may remember mathematical and communication skills when they return to school. Despite this, shorter holidays are more beneficial for the working parents because they less need to look after their children.

In conclusion, longer working vacations provide facility to student to pend more time with their parents, whereas shorter holidays important for academic performances.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses both parts of the task by discussing the value of long school holidays and the arguments in favour of shorter ones, maintaining a clear position throughout. In the introduction, the writer outlines their perspective that both arguments are important, though the body paragraphs successfully explore specific points such as relaxation, extracurricular activities, and academic continuity. However, some ideas remain slightly under-developed or repetitive, such as the discussion on stress and revision. Furthermore, there are minor awkward phrasings like 'longer working vacations' in the conclusion. Overall, the content fully engages with the prompt, meeting the criteria for Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a recognisable introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Logical organisation is aided by standard cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', 'Moreover', and 'For instance'. However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For instance, 'several arguments which contributes to in favore of' contains grammatical interference, and transitions between sentences can feel disjointed. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate the contrasting viewpoints, but the conclusion is abrupt and omits the full depth of the previous arguments, leading to an overall Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'extracurricular activities', 'unwind', and 'academic performances'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'ecademic' instead of 'academic', 'contributes to in favore of' instead of 'contribute in favour of', 'frustated' instead of 'frustrated', and 'extracurriculum' instead of 'extracurricular'. These errors do not seriously impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score to a Band 5.5 because precision and correct word forms are inconsistently maintained.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses ('students who have less study break') and conditional ideas. However, frequent grammatical and mechanical errors are present, particularly in verb agreement and preposition use, such as 'longer schools holidays... helps', 'shorter holidays also provides', and 'they less need to look after'. There are also awkward word order issues like 'longer working vacations provide facility to student to pend'. These errors occasionally distract the reader, though they rarely impede overall communication. This performance aligns comfortably with the Band 5.5 descriptors.

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