Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-16

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)

It is a common practice in most of the countries where the primary and secondary schools close for a specified period in the summer. The main reason behind this is to save small students from the negative effects of the heat on their health. However, some people disagree with this view and argue that some other measures should be taken to avoid long holidays in summer.

On the one hand, it is often believe that in hot weather the small level educational institutes should announce holidays and it is oftenly occur in most of the countries. The main reason behind this is that children are not enough able to protect themselves from the adverse effects of heat. Such affects are commonly recorded in most of the schools in summer. For example due to heat waves many students fell down due to reduction in their blood pressure, which cause diarrhea, headache and even heart attack in rare case.

On the other hand, some people argued that instead of a long holidays the schools should take some initiatives to reduce the holidays span for example installing air conditions in each and every class room, also reducing the sizes of the classes, and might reduce school hours but closing all together for months is not a wise idea. Which not only affect students education but also diverting their attentions from the studies.

However, in my opinion the schools should only be close in the exact peak days instead of closing it for a whole two months summer but for the sake of precaution the schools hours should also be reduce in the consecutive months of the summer and must be ensure by the relevant authorities that full facilities in case of emergencies must be available in the schools which can be utilizes in case something not goes well.

In sum up, the primary and secondary schools should only be close in the exact hot days not for a longer period to avoid any distraction in the learning processes.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt, discussing the value of long school holidays and the arguments in favour of shorter ones, as well as providing a personal viewpoint. However, some ideas are slightly under-developed or veer into improbable examples, such as claiming that heat waves can cause heart attacks in school children. The writer takes a clear position throughout the essay, advocating for shorter adjustments rather than a complete two-month closure. Despite some over-generalisation and limited extension of supporting details, all parts of the task are addressed, which places this response comfortably at Band 6.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is arranged coherently with a clear overall progression. The writer uses standard cohesive markers such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'However' to structure the response. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical, and referencing is not always completely clear, as seen in sentences like 'Which not only affect students education', where a relative clause is incorrectly punctuated as a sentence fragment. Overall, the logical flow is maintained, resulting in a Band 6 performance for this criterion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with attempts to incorporate less common items and subject-specific terms such as 'adverse effects', 'heat waves', and 'learning processes'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors and awkward collocations throughout the text, including 'small level educational institutes' instead of 'primary and secondary schools', 'oftenly occur', and 'affects' used instead of the noun 'effects'. These errors occasionally cause minor confusion, but communication is not impeded. This demonstrates a clear Band 6 level of lexical resource.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over grammar. However, the text contains frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement ('children are not enough able', 'schools should only be close'), incorrect verb forms ('fell down', 'cause diarrhea'), and punctuation errors like sentence fragments. Complex structures are often faulty, and prepositional usage is sometimes inaccurate ('close in the exact peak days'). Because these errors persist and occasionally strain the reader, but do not completely impede overall communication, a band score of 5.0 is appropriate.

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

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