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)
Education paves a way towards a bright and prosperous future. None is a notion that, in most of the countries, primary as well as secondary schools remain closed for two months or more in the summer holidays. This essay will discuss the benefits of extend school breaks and examine the arguments in favour of shorter holidays.
long school holidays provide several benefits for students. Firstly, if there is long breaks in summer holidays, student can achieve their maximum syllabus through self-studies. To elaborate, in their school time their daily routine becomes to busy, and they do not get a reasonable time to study themself. Secondly, if there is a long holiday in students' life, they can learn practical skills from their earning. Most of the students wants to earn in their student life, if they get good amount of time, they can learn any type of skills which help them to earn money.
On the other hand, shorter school holidays can also have certain advantages. First and foremost, if there is a shorter break in student life, it mostly saves time because if there is less time, most of the students just avoid leisure activity and they focused on academic studies. For instance, majority of the students suffer from procrastinating, when they get too much time or long holidays, they waste it on other activity Therefore, it is best to have shorter breaks in their life. Furthermore, if there is short period of breaks, most of the students focused on learning instead of wasting time. For example, it is a universal truth that if students get more time, they just waste it but if they have shorter holidays they could focus more on academic studies.
In conclusion, long school holidays can provide students with valuable time for self-studies and learn practical skills, while shorter holidays can help them to avoid procrastinating and focused on academic progress. Therefore, both types of holidays have their own advantages.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses all parts of the task, discussing both the value of long school holidays and the arguments in favour of shorter ones. A clear position is maintained throughout the essay. The ideas regarding self-study and learning practical skills for the first prompt, and avoiding procrastination for the second prompt, are relevant and extended, though some arguments tend to over-generalize. For instance, claiming that students mostly waste their time during long holidays is somewhat repetitive. However, the writer covers the task requirements adequately and ensures that both prompts are explored with distinct supporting points, aligning well with the expectations for a Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the two main ideas. However, cohesion is at times mechanical and repetitive, heavily relying on transitional markers such as 'Firstly', 'Secondly', 'On the other hand', and 'Furthermore'. Referencing is also occasionally unclear or imprecise, as seen with ambiguous pronoun usage ('when they get too much time or long holidays, they waste it on other activity Therefore'). While the logical progression is generally understandable, the execution of cohesive devices is frequently faulty, placing this response firmly in the Band 5.5 to 6.0 range.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The lexical resource is adequate for the task, allowing the student to communicate basic ideas about education and holidays. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, such as 'prosperous', 'procrastinating', and 'universal truth', but these are accompanied by noticeable inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'extend school breaks' instead of 'extended school breaks', 'earning' instead of 'jobs' or 'employment', and 'learn practical skills from their earning'. Spelling and word-formation errors do not heavily impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score to a Band 5.5, as the range of vocabulary remains somewhat limited and repetitive.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing conditional structures and dependent clauses. However, grammatical control is inconsistent, and frequent errors appear throughout the text. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('student can achieve', 'student wants to earn', 'most of the students focused'), preposition and article errors ('in their school time', 'in student life', 'a short period of breaks'), and punctuation slips before transitional conjunctions. While these errors rarely completely impede communication, they cause noticeable difficulty for the reader and prevent the grammar score from rising above a Band 5.0.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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