Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

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

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 are close for more than 60 days for the summer holidays in various nations. This essay is going to examine the motive behind the long holidays provided to the students such as mental peace while also addressing the advantages of shorter holidays.

The main motive of long holidays is to get a break from studying and doing fun activities with friends and families. Students do not usually get to spend quality time with their families due to excessive school works and homework. Therefore, long holidays are the perfect vacation plans for them to explore new places and enjoy their lives. For example, familes loving in New York City can visit Nepal with their children to explore its cultural and natural beauty. Similarly, some of the pupils who are staying away from home to study can even go to visit their parents in a different state.

In contrast, there are also various disadvantages of longer holidays that are being neglected by the people. For instance, a survey showcases that more than 60% of the students forget what they were being taught after returning from the summer holiday. This can seriously impact the education and grades of pupils. Similarly, most of the kids nowadays spend their vacation time while playing video games which makes them physically inactive and can affect their health and fitness. These problems can be solved by just shortening the length of summer holidays and promoting shorter school holidays.

To conclude, although shorter holidays are more beneficial for student's studies and fitness, I believe pupils should be provided with some free time to enjoy themselves, explore new places and get to know more people.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response successfully addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both the value of long school holidays and the arguments in favor of shorter ones. The writer presents a clear position throughout the essay. The ideas are relevant and supported with examples, such as families traveling from New York City to Nepal or students forgetting previously taught material. However, some arguments could be extended further to achieve a higher band score; for instance, the educational implications of memory retention or the socio-economic impact of childcare during long breaks are only touched upon briefly. Overall, the task is well handled, and all prompt requirements are met.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay presents a clear overall progression, moving logically from an introduction to the value of long holidays, then counterbalancing with the advantages of shorter holidays, and concluding with a balanced summary. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas, such as in the body paragraphs. Cohesive devices are employed adequately (e.g., 'Therefore', 'Similarly', 'In contrast', 'To conclude'), although some transitions feel slightly mechanical or repetitive in their positioning. Referencing is generally clear, though occasional minor slips in logical flow appear between sentences.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common lexical items such as 'excessive', 'physically inactive', and 'neglected'. However, there are noticeable word-choice and collocation errors, such as writing 'schools are close' instead of 'schools are closed' and 'familes loving in New York City' instead of 'families living'. While these errors do not impede communication, they reflect a limited control over word forms and spelling, capping the score at this level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses ('pupils who are staying away') and conditional structures. However, there are several grammatical and mechanical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('Primary and secondary schools are close'), typographical errors ('familes loving'), and passive voice inaccuracies ('what they were being taught'). Despite these errors, the meaning remains clear and communication is rarely impeded, representing a solid Band 6 performance.

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