Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-17
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)
One question that has caused a great deal of controversy is whether authorities should establish practical measures into the educational syllabus to ensure that primary and secondary school students obtain an adequate amount of time for recreation, enrichment of knowledge about nature and different cultures, and physical activity to enforce their general well-being.
On the one hand, the importance of prolonged summer vacation cannot be disregarded, as the primary reason for the summer holiday is to ensure that students have refreshed their minds and recharged for the next academic year. Summer recess allows pupils to allocate more time for leisure activities such as playing chess and painting, which satisfies their curisity and engagement. Moreover, the investigation of natural environment can serve as the most significant feature of development, as students will enrich their knowledge about divergent customs and cultures, securing their spiritual enhancement. The last but not the least, summer holidays supply an extended time for maintaining students' physical well-being, as people engage themselves with swimming, jogging and hiking the likelihood of obesity-based illnesses starts to shrunk.
On the other hand, extended summer vacation may distract students' attention from being engaged with their studies. Extended duration of the academic year allows students to finish the academic curriculum at faster pace. Furthermore, as academic performance becomes indespensible in students daily lives, they can build stronger relationships with their teachers, fostering them to percieve more detailed feedback of their achievements and performance.
Ultimately, all things considered, states should implement balanced practical policies to ensure that students improve their awareness of nature, cultures and traditions, sports and hobbies along with msintaining excellent academic performance, taking into consideration students' phycological and mental well-being.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
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 introduction sets up a broad context, although it is slightly overly complex and verbose. The body paragraphs successfully explore the benefits of extended summer vacations, such as recreation, mental refreshment, and physical health, as well as the counter-arguments regarding distraction and faster curriculum completion. However, some ideas lack deep elaboration or concrete examples. For instance, the mention of playing chess and painting is a good start, but could have been developed further. The conclusion reiterates the main points. Overall, the task is adequately addressed, positioning this response firmly at Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response is organized into logical paragraphs, with a clear introduction, two body paragraphs presenting opposing views, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are employed to guide the reader, such as 'On the one hand', 'Moreover', and 'On the other hand'. However, referencing and transitions are at times slightly mechanical or awkward, as seen in phrases like 'The last but not the least'. Paragraphing is utilized appropriately to separate distinct arguments, but the overall flow can feel a bit disjointed due to overly long, winding sentences in the introduction and conclusion. These organizational flaws place the essay securely in the Band 6 category.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, attempting less common items such as 'controversy', 'enrichment', 'divergent customs', and 'indispensable'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice inaccuracies throughout the text. Examples include 'curisity' instead of 'curiosity', 'shrunk' instead of 'shrink' or 'be reduced', and 'indespensible' instead of 'indispensable'. Furthermore, collocations are occasionally unnatural, such as 'enforce their general well-being' instead of 'enhance'. Despite these lexical errors, the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the intended meaning, matching the requirements for Band 6.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over grammar. There are examples of successful complex structures, such as relative clauses and participial phrases ('taking into consideration students' phycological and mental well-being'). However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are issues with subject-verb agreement and word forms, such as 'students have refreshed... and recharged' compared to 'the likelihood of obesity-based illnesses starts to shrunk' (tense/form error), and a spelling error in 'phycological' instead of 'psychological'. Errors occur frequently enough to cause occasional re-reading, though they rarely impede overall communication, leading to a Band 6 score.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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