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)

Primary and secondary schools close for two or months in summer holidays in many countries as it can help them relax there mind without any need of stress and explore the world.In summer it be difficult for students to attend classes and concentrate. Students learn and attend classes throughout the year and by providing them vacatio, student get time to spend for themselves.

On the one hand, by providing such long holidays it can help student overcome stress that has been carried out throughout the year by doing projects, assignments, exams and other activities. It can become difficult for students to take everything at the same time, students give there final exams before the vacation and then promoted to next class. It helps student to keep there mind relax before going to the next level. Like for an example, my brother studies in a primary school and he has been given many thing throughout the year which creates stress for them and can face many difficulties in the future. He is provided 2 months vacation so that he can enjoy and relax. Children can also have fun outside which they could not do during the school due to their busy schedules. They can also explore and travel to hometown or go for a trip and know what is happening outside the school.

On the other hand, having long holidays can create lack of interest in studing and laziness since students might not have aything to do at home. Furthermore, technology is increasing and children spend most of their time using digital devices. By providing long holidays students create lack of interest in studying and when the school open it becomes difficult for them to understand and write.

In conclusion, by providing long holidays it can help children to enjoy and spend time for themselves and do not need to worry about the assignments, exams amnd other activities. However, having shorter holidays it can help childern to enjoy and get back to their work rather than creating lack of interest in studies. Many schools also provide shorter holidays between the year so that it can relax students mind.

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 such as stress relief and personal exploration, as well as arguments in favour of shorter holidays including learning loss, boredom, and excessive screen time. A clear position is maintained throughout the essay. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive in places, particularly when discussing stress and relaxation. The example regarding your brother is personal and somewhat simplistic, but it does support the main point. To achieve a higher band, the ideas would benefit from deeper elaboration and more sophisticated supporting arguments rather than circling back to the same points about stress and relaxation.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing, dividing the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion appropriately. Cohesive devices are used to signal shifts in argument, such as 'On the one hand' and 'On the other hand'. However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For instance, the transition between sentences can be abrupt, and pronouns are occasionally misused, such as 'help them relax there mind' instead of 'their'. While paragraphing is used sufficiently to structure the response, the logical progression within paragraphs could be smoother to avoid repetitive loops of thought.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'explore the world', 'overcome stress', and 'excessive screen time' (implied via digital devices). However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, such as writing 'there' instead of 'their', 'studing' instead of 'studying', and 'vacatio' instead of 'vacation'. These errors do not seriously impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score to a Band 6.0, as precision and control over spelling and collocations are inconsistent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures like relative clauses ('which could not do during the school') and conditional-style reasoning. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('student get time', 'children create lack of interest'), incorrect prepositions ('in summer holidays'), and spelling/homophone confusion ('keep there mind relax'). Complex sentences are often faulty, and punctuation errors occur. Despite these frequent errors, meaning is generally clear and communication is rarely impeded, placing the essay comfortably at Band 5.5.

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

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