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)

Internationally, many educational institues closes over for two or three month, mostly for summer holidays. In my home country, Pakistan, the summer vacations are usually for 3 months, June till August and sometimes, it exceeds to September.

Basically, these holidays are allocated to students mainly because of two things: harsh weather and secondly, to give some time to the childrens so that they can prepare for the second term exam, happening right after the summer vacation. Generally, long school holidays are seen as ways of entertainment by children. For instance, they don't need to get up at 6:00am in the morning to get ready for school and do lots of homework. One big advantage of having extensive summer vacations is that it relax and calms the student's mind. It is very important of students to take break from hectic school routine. Summer vacations can also helps to spend your free time on your extra curricular activities, which is also very beneficial for a child's health. Last month, a student came to me and told me that how these vacations have helped her to study more efficiently and also, spend quality time with her family ie., she can now be the part of family trips and the lunch events she has been missing while she was in school.

However, in my opinion, school holidays should not exceed 30 days off. One ultimate reason for this argument is that school system literally destroys the habits of students when they close their schools for more than few weeks. When students goes back to school after spending 3 whole months at home, they becomes very lazy in terms of doing anything at school because from past 3 months, they have not been following any strict schedule. It is better to have holidays for just few weeks because this gives ample of time to a students for exam preparation and also to spend some time with family

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing both the value of long school holidays and the arguments in favour of shorter ones. The writer presents a clear position throughout, stating the reasons for extended breaks in Pakistan and ultimately arguing that holidays should be limited to 30 days. Ideas are generally well supported with examples, such as the mention of harsh weather, exam preparation, and personal anecdotes. However, some arguments tend to over-generalise or remain slightly under-developed, particularly the brief conclusion regarding the destruction of student habits. Overall, the task is addressed adequately, fulfilling the requirements for Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear progression of ideas from the introduction to the discussion of advantages, followed by the counter-argument for shorter holidays in the final paragraph. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate distinct points of view. However, cohesion is at times faulty or mechanical. For instance, transitional phrases like 'Basically' and 'one ultimate reason' feel colloquial or awkward, and referencing is occasionally imprecise. While the logical flow is mostly maintained, these minor issues place the response firmly in the Band 6.0 category.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common lexical items such as 'extensive', 'hacked school routine', and 'ample'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'institues' instead of 'institutes', 'closes over for' instead of 'closes for', and 'childrens' which is a non-standard plural form. Furthermore, collocation errors such as 'gives ample of time to a students' demonstrate lapses in control. These errors do not seriously impede communication, reflecting the characteristics of Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over clause structures with subordinating conjunctions like 'because' and 'when'. However, there are frequent grammatical and punctuation errors throughout the text. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('student goes', 'they becomes'), incorrect article usage ('the second term exam', 'a students'), and awkward phrasing like 'from past 3 months'. While these errors rarely completely obscure the meaning, their frequency prevents the essay from reaching a higher band score.

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