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)

In many states, schools are close for two months or more specially, primary and secondary in the summer vacations. In my view, it is mandatory for chidrens mentally and physically well-being and also benefical for the educators.

To commence with, many education sectors offer around 2 month vacations once a year because it is very crucial for the kids to take some rest and do some physical activities which boost their immune system and stamina. In addition to this, childrens likely to come back with delighted interest. Moreover, this also plays a pivotel role for the tutors to feel relaxed and spend quality time with their households and friends as they are exhauted with the burden of work and handling various kinds of students. Therefore, lengthy vacations are extremely substantial for both of them. For instance, reasons behind the most developing nations like Germany, Austria and Sweden etc is the well organised education system as they provide various health opportunities or lage vacations once or twice a year. As a result, many huge businesses could be taken by the Europeons.

On the other hand, some argued that vacations should be shorter because many kids disturbed their housholds in the vacations or asked them to visit northern areas due to warn climate in their areas. Furthermore, many educational institutes owner must be in favour of reduce the vacations due to some parents does not give them vacations fee and owner paid all the utility bills along with staff salaries. Still, it is impossible for the principals or owner to run their institutes in these challenges.

In conclusion, vacations should be provide once or twice in a year as it supports the kids and tutors as well. However, also consider the institutes owner point of view.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student addresses both parts of the prompt, discussing the value of long holidays and the arguments in favour of shorter ones, such as financial burdens on school owners and family disruptions. A clear position is maintained throughout the essay. However, some ideas are under-developed or briefly stated, such as the example regarding European businesses and Germany, Austria, and Sweden, which lacks a clear logical link to school holidays. The overall response covers all parts of the task adequately, matching the Band 6 descriptors where relevant ideas are presented but some are slightly underdeveloped or unclear.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is generally coherent with a recognisable overall arrangement, featuring an introduction, body paragraphs addressing both prompts, and a brief conclusion. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'To commence with', 'In addition to this', and 'On the other hand'. However, referencing and paragraph cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For instance, the transition into the example about European nations feels abrupt and disconnected from the main argument about student and teacher well-being. Paragraphing is attempted, but the final conclusion is very brief. These features align with the Band 6 descriptor.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student attempts a range of vocabulary suitable for the task, including terms like 'mandatory', 'crucial', and 'substantial'. However, there are numerous word choice and spelling errors throughout the text, such as 'chidrens' instead of children, 'benefical' instead of beneficial, 'pivotel' instead of pivotal, 'exhauted' instead of exhausted, and 'warn' instead of warm. Despite these noticeable errors, the meaning can generally be understood, placing the vocabulary performance firmly at Band 5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilising conjunctions like 'because', 'although', and relative clauses. However, there are frequent grammatical and punctuation errors that occasionally impede communication. Examples include basic agreement and tense errors such as 'schools are close' instead of schools are closed, 'childrens likely to come' instead of children are likely to come, and awkward phrasing like 'some educational institutes owner must be in favour of reduce the vacations'. Due to the high frequency of grammatical inaccuracies and structural flaws, a Band 5 score is appropriate.

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

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