Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

In many countries of the world, summer holidays are increased more then two month in elementary and high schools. Although some might consider it positive, I believe it to be extremely negative development. Not only for effect of educational infrastructure, effect of student goal, but also because of economic effect.

There are multiple disadvantage associated with this topic. Firstly, effect of educational infrastructure can be consider as the leading disadvantage of this development. As long term summer destroy the structure of education system. Take an example of Japan Educational Minister says that the long term summer effect the education system directly. Thus, this mega disadvantage I believe has the negative to make this development a negative development.

Secondly, apart from effect on educational infrastructure, effect of students goal can also be another major disadvantage. As long summer disturb the students aim. For instance, in China, student did not achieve his future goal and main reason behind this is long term summer. Hence, effect of students goal can be labelled as the most significant disadvantage , giving this development a positive outlook.

Finally, economic effect can also be considered a leading disadvantage of this topic. As government should provide a long term financial support to the student. For example, a survey conduct in Russia, mostly people says longer term summer is the negative development.

To sum up, even though long term summer might have some advantage too, but I believe that the disadvantage it bring in term of effect of educational infrastructure, effect of students goal and economic effect can make this development an overall negative one.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response addresses both parts of the prompt by discussing the value of long holidays and the arguments for shorter ones, though the arguments largely overlap around the negative impacts. The student takes a clear position that long holidays are an extremely negative development, but the main ideas—such as educational infrastructure, student goals, and economic impact—are repetitive and underdeveloped. For example, the claim about Japan's Educational Minister is vague, and the example regarding a student in China is extremely brief and lacks specific context. To achieve a higher band, the student needs to fully develop ideas with detailed explanations and concrete examples rather than relying on generalized statements. Band 5 is appropriate because the task is only partially addressed due to limited and underdeveloped ideas.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay has a recognizable structure with an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion, showing some basic organization. However, there is a lack of clear overall progression because the body paragraphs repeat similar ideas regarding negative effects rather than advancing a coherent argument. Cohesive devices are used mechanically and repetitively, such as starting consecutive paragraphs with 'Firstly,' 'Secondly,' and 'Finally,' followed by formulaic transition phrases like 'As long term summer destroy...' Furthermore, paragraphing is attempted, but the internal logical flow is frequently disrupted by awkward sentence structures and repetitive referencing, which places this text securely at Band 5.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive, frequently reusing phrases like 'long term summer' and 'negative development.' There are noticeable errors in word choice, form, and collocation, such as writing 'summer holidays are increased more then two month' instead of 'extended by more than two months,' and 'effect of student goal' instead of 'student goals.' While the vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey the basic meaning of the essay, these frequent inaccuracies and the very limited range of less common lexical items prevent the response from reaching Band 6. Consequently, a Band 5 is assigned.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control is weak, leading to frequent grammatical errors and sentence fragments. Examples include 'Not only for effect of educational infrastructure, effect of student goal, but also because of economic effect,' which lacks a main verb clause, and 'mostly people says,' which contains subject-verb agreement errors. Punctuation and preposition usage are also frequently faulty, such as 'survey conduct in Russia.' These errors frequently cause difficulty for the reader and obscure the intended meaning, matching the criteria for Band 5.

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

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