Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-19

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 countries schools closed for two months or more in the summer holidays. There are some advantages of long school holidays, and also some arguments that cannot be ignored.

Countries close primary and secondary schools for two months in the summer holidays. Everyone needs a break after sometime same for students .One evident benefit is that school holidays helps students to unwind from stressful routine. Secondly holidays give them enough time to explore themselves.Moreover they get more closed to their families and it also helps to develop useful skills.For example swimming in which they need proper training for two to three months. Therefore long holidays have a great influence on students for learning and adapting new things as they have much time.

On the other hand there are some downsides of long term holidays such as loss of learning .Students when they came back they almost forget all the syllabus after long holidays. Secondly they became burden on parents as they tease them- Along with some students can also indulge in bad activities like crime- for expample they spend free time on social media and watch unethical content which adversly effect them in certain ways .Therefore schools should not be closed for longtime-

In conclusion where long holidays give students rest, short-term holidays are more beneficial for learning and healthy routine along with it prevents from bad habits and make parents easy.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt, discussing the value of long holidays such as unwinding from a stressful routine and developing skills like swimming, as well as arguments for shorter breaks including loss of learning and behavioral issues. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive. Furthermore, the response falls short of the minimum length requirement, containing only 233 words compared to the required 250 words. This under-length penalty prevents the score from reaching higher tiers, as it restricts the depth of idea elaboration across the essay. Overall, the content is relevant, but the lack of word count and concise development places it at Band 5.5.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into four paragraphs with a clear introduction and conclusion. Basic cohesive devices are employed, such as 'One evident benefit', 'Secondly', and 'On the other hand', which help to structure the points. However, referencing and transitions are sometimes faulty or mechanical, as seen in abrupt shifts like 'Along with some students can also indulge...'. Paragraphing is attempted, but paragraph boundaries and internal flow feel a bit disjointed due to punctuation errors and run-on phrasing. While there is a discernible overall arrangement, the lack of sophisticated cohesive control and occasional mechanical linking justify a Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with some attempts at less common lexical items such as 'unwind', 'stressful routine', and 'adversely effect'. However, there are notable word choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as 'became burden on parents', 'loss of learning', and spelling/morphology slips like 'long term holidays' versus 'longtime'. The student also misspells 'adversely effect' (should be affect) and 'for expample'. While the range of vocabulary is sufficient to communicate the main points, frequent minor lexical errors and limited flexibility restrict the score to a Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and introductory phrases. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent punctuation and structural errors, such as missing articles ('schools closed', 'after sometime same for students'), comma splices, and awkward hyphenation ('long term', 'short-term'). Sentences like 'Students when they came back they almost forget all the syllabus' display faulty clause structures and tense shifts. Although meaning is generally conveyed despite these errors, the frequency of basic grammatical inaccuracies places this performance firmly at Band 5.0.

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