Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-21

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)

The school years are a crucial stage of a child’s intellectual, social, and emotional development. In many parts of the world, schools provide students with an extended summer vacation. While lengthy holidays can offer several important benefits, there are also convincing arguments for reducing their duration. This essay will discuss both perspectives.

One significant advantage of long school holidays is that it allows student unwind the academice pressure from the schools. This is particulary relevant in India, where many learners have demanding school schedules while attending numerous coaching classes outside of school hours. An extended break can help the students recover from the acdemic fatigue, examinations and constant competitiveness among each other. This is a time when they can actually enhance their social skills and pursue activities that they are interested in. For instance attending dance classes, learning music and art, playing sports and learning house chores. Families can also use this period for travel purposes and expose children to different cultures, places and experiences, therby promoting learning beyond the classroom.

On the other hand, shorter school holidays can help students maintain academic continuity. One of the main concerns associated with long vacations is learning loss, as students may forget previous acquired knowledge and skills during a prolonged absence from school. Teachers consequently have to revise the syllabus and topics again rather than intoducing new concepts. urthermore, shorter breaks can help children maintain a stable daily routine. This may make the transition back to school less difficult and encourage greater consistency in their study habits. In some cases, a shorter vacation may also reduce the amount of time children spend on passive activities such as excessive screen use.

In conclusion, long school holidays can give students valuable opportunities to rest, spend time with their families and pursue activities outside formal education. However, shorter breaks may help prevent learning loss and preserve a regular academic routine. Therefore, both approaches have distinct advantages, depending on how effectively the vacation period is used.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response successfully addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the value of long school holidays and the arguments in favour of shorter ones. The student adopts a clear position throughout and extends relevant ideas with appropriate explanations and examples, such as mentioning the context of India with its demanding school schedules and coaching classes. The advantages of long breaks (resting, pursuing extracurricular activities, family travel) and the benefits of shorter breaks (preventing learning loss, maintaining routine) are well-developed and supported. The content fully meets the criteria for Band 7, as all requirements of the prompt are addressed with a clear overall progression and relevant examples.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay displays clear logical organisation and progression throughout. Each paragraph has a distinct central topic, starting with a clear introduction, moving through the benefits of long holidays and the counter-arguments for shorter breaks, and ending with a balanced conclusion. Cohesive devices are used reasonably well, such as 'One significant advantage', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusion'. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the contrasting viewpoints. However, referencing and transitional links could be slightly more sophisticated to reach higher band levels, placing this securely in the Band 7 category.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary to allow some flexibility and precision, using appropriate terms such as 'intellectual, social, and emotional development', 'academic fatigue', 'academic continuity', and 'passive activities'. However, there are a few noticeable spelling errors and typographical slips throughout the text, including 'student unwind' instead of 'students to unwind', 'academice', 'particulary', 'acdemic', 'therby', 'previous acquired' instead of 'previously acquired', and 'intoducing'. Because these errors do not impede communication and the writer attempts less common vocabulary, the performance aligns well with Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating control over various structures such as conditional and participial clauses ('While lengthy holidays can offer several important benefits...', 'For instance attending dance classes...'). There are, however, several grammatical errors and awkward phrasing instances, such as 'allows student unwind', 'constant competitiveness among each other', and a missing letter in 'urthermore'. While complex structures are attempted with varying success, the frequency of minor structural and prepositional inaccuracies means the writing fits comfortably into the Band 6 descriptor, where sentences contain a mix of forms alongside errors that rarely impede communication.

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