Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-18

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)

The impact of long holidays in several countries has always been debatable with many people believe that the long holidays from school is benificial for children while other reject this notion.

Long vacations from school can help students to work on their hobbies which is also an important part of their upbringing. For instance, having a long period of holidays allow students to join their music and swimming classes. Furthermore, in these countries, parents utilize this period by arranging events and gatherings which can not be happend in other period of the year due to busy schedule of the students. In these countries, summer is always very harsh and it advised to students must stay indoors. Many international organizations are also urge governments of these regions for long summer holidays beacue children are vulnerable to heat.

On the other hand, there is a considerable debate that schools shouldn't be closed for a longer period. For example, longer vacations can distract students from studies and cause everlasting effects on children. Study shows, the children from these countries are procrastinators and cannot perform better in their professional life. Moreover, many people are also linking it with economics because long holidays can also effect several businesess which ultimate lead to rising in poverty.

Overall, both sides present their opinions on this matter and a balanced approach should consider

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The student addresses both parts of the prompt, discussing the value of long school holidays and the arguments for shorter ones. However, the ideas are somewhat limited and under-developed, with basic examples such as joining music and swimming classes. Additionally, the response suffers from a significant penalty because the length requirement is NOT met, as the essay contains only 225 words compared to the required 250-word minimum. The conclusion is incomplete, abruptly cutting off without a proper summary or final thought ('a balanced approach should consider'). These shortcomings place the response firmly in the band 5 range for Task Achievement.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a basic structural organization with an introduction, body paragraphs addressing both sides, and a flawed conclusion. Paragraphing is attempted, but the final paragraph is incomplete and abrupt. Cohesive devices are used, but they are sometimes mechanical or awkwardly deployed, such as starting multiple consecutive sentences with 'In these countries'. Referencing is generally clear, but the lack of an overall progression due to the truncation of the conclusion impacts the flow. Overall, the organization meets the requirements for a band 6, as the logical arrangement is clear despite faulty cohesion and structural incompleteness at the end.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, but it shows limited flexibility and contains noticeable errors. The student attempts some less common vocabulary items like 'upbringing', 'procrastinators', and 'vulnerable', but also makes noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'benificial' (beneficial), 'can not be happend' (cannot happen), 'it advised to students must stay' (grammatically incorrect phrasing), and 'effect several businesess' (affect several businesses). There are also recurring spelling mistakes. These errors do not completely impede communication, which aligns well with the band 6 descriptors for Lexical Resource.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response features a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures. However, grammatical accuracy is weak with frequent errors that occasionally impede understanding. Examples of errors include 'many people believe' (subject-verb agreement with plural/singular mismatch in the introduction), 'allow students to join' (plural subject requiring 'allows'), 'it advised to students must stay', and 'ultimate lead to rising' (ultimately lead to a rise). Punctuation and word forms are inconsistently controlled. The sentence forms are too limited in accurate complexity to reach a band 6, fitting the band 5 descriptor where attempts at complex sentences often result in frequent errors.

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

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