Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

Almost every primary and secondary schools in many nations get closed for two months or more during the summer season as a summer holiday. In this essay, I will discuss about the value of long school holidays which can actually help children for practical learnings and I will also state about the benefits of short school breaks which will not disrupts their pace of study.

On the one hand, children can spent time for practical learning and work to improve their personal skills during the long summer holidays. Rather than direct learning, there are various activities that pupils can learn informally. One is travelling, as children can learn about different cultures, traditions, and religions. They can also develop knowledge about the history of a particular place. Additionally, they can also work on developing their hobbies or to improve the personal traits. Spending time on doing things they are really interested in, can help to make the mentally fit. As a result, such informal way of learning can provide a wide range of knowledge which is necessary to shape a child's habit. For example, children can travel to the remote places with their parents and can observe the demanding life of locals living their. This can help them to develop the feeling of grateful about their life.

On the other hand, providing a short period as a holiday can be more beneficial to the children. This is because, long gap between academic learning can make them distracted and they can loss the pace of formal study. Children often prefer to spend time on travelling and doing activities in which they are interested in, and investing much time in such activities may distract them from academic learning. During the short holidays, they can take a rest and relax rather than planning for any other activities. Taking a short gap from continuous study can actually improve the mental strength. As a result, teenagers can focus on doing short term activities that really makes them happy. For instance, parents can organise a family gathering which will make their children close to them and build emotional connection.

In conclusion, children can get knowledge from different informal ways by getting long summer holidays, however this will distract them and they will loss their pace of formal learning.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the value of long school holidays, such as informal learning and travelling, and the arguments in favour of shorter holidays, like maintaining study pace. The writer's position is clear throughout the essay. The ideas are generally well extended and supported with relevant explanations, such as children learning about different cultures through travel. However, some arguments tend to over-generalise slightly, and examples could be more specific rather than hypothetical, such as 'children can travel to remote places with their parents'. Overall, the task is properly fulfilled, meeting the criteria for a solid Band 6.5 or 7.0 by effectively covering both prompt questions with a coherent stance.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organised with a clear introduction, two distinct body paragraphs addressing each side of the prompt, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are used to guide the reader through the arguments, such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'Additionally'. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the two main viewpoints. However, there are some minor mechanical issues with cohesion and referencing, such as 'loss their pace' instead of 'lose', and slight repetitiveness in referencing ideas. The logical progression is clear overall, satisfying the requirements for a Band 7.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common lexical items such as 'informal learning', 'emotional connection', and 'personal traits'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation inaccuracies throughout the text, such as 'schools in many nations get closed' instead of 'are closed', 'spent time for' instead of 'spend time on', and confusing 'loss' with 'lose'. While these errors do not impede communication, they restrict the lexical score. The range is sufficient for precision in places, but slips keep it firmly in the Band 6.0 category.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and conditional-like structures, such as 'Spending time on doing things they are really interested in, can help to make the mentally fit.' However, there are frequent grammatical errors and awkward phrasing, including subject-verb agreement issues ('Almost every primary and secondary schools... get closed'), incorrect preposition usage, and word form mistakes like 'feeling of grateful' instead of 'gratitude' or 'gratefulness', and 'mentally fit' instead of 'mental fitness'. Despite these errors, communication is rarely impeded, placing the grammar performance securely at Band 6.0.

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