Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-23

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)

School plays a vital role in building the personality of every child. Every single child must attend his school regularly as it is the basic building for his career where he can learn everything in the supervision of the staff. Now-a-days primary and secondary schools are close for long period of time especially in summer in many countries. These holidays are also beneficial for the students it they are utilize properly.

Initially, long period of holidays especially in summer are productive as due to heat waves and high temperature un different areas can directly effect health of the pupils. For instance, in countries where the temperature is high in summer all educational institutes are off and hometasks are assigned to them so that there time is not wasted. Health should be the first priority for the students.

Furthermore, long school holidays can also develop a self dependent inspiration in learners by completing there homework by themselves. For example, assigning tasks to the students will motivate them by doing there work independently by themselves. Sel motivation and determination can be enhance in this appropriate way.

In contrast, shorter school holidays can also be beneficial in a minor way. In this way, more school activities can be performed throughout the year which are also productive.

In conclusion, long vacations are helpful for the students in safeguarding there health and developing self motivation in them. If the government also favour these long vacations for students and provide them online facilities to the students it can also play a significant role in a positive way.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The student addresses both parts of the prompt, discussing the value of long school holidays (health benefits and independent learning) and briefly mentioning arguments in favour of shorter holidays. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive. For instance, the discussion on self-dependence lacks specific elaboration beyond general statements about homework. While a clear position is maintained throughout the response, the ideas are not fully extended, placing the essay comfortably within the Band 6 descriptor for this criterion where all parts are addressed but some are under-developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing, including an introduction, body paragraphs addressing each prompt question, and a conclusion. Transitional markers such as 'Initially', 'Furthermore', and 'In contrast' are used to structure the text logically, though some referencing and cohesion feel a bit mechanical. For example, the phrase 'these holidays are also beneficial for the students it they are utilize properly' contains mechanical referencing errors and awkward conjunctions. Nevertheless, the logical progression is maintained throughout, satisfying the requirements for Band 6.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student attempts an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, incorporating terms such as 'supervision', 'educational institutes', and 'determination'. However, there are frequent word-choice and spelling errors that detract from the overall precision, such as 'close' instead of 'closed', 'it' instead of 'if', 'utilize' instead of 'utilized', and 'there' used repeatedly in place of 'their'. Additionally, confusion between forms such as 'self dependent' and 'self motivation' points to limitations in lexical control, aligning the response with Band 5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some capability with subordinate clauses (e.g., 'as it is the basic building for his career where he can learn everything'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors in tense usage, subject-verb agreement, and prepositions throughout the text, such as 'are close for long period' and 'so that there time is not wasted'. Errors like 'by doing there work independently by themselves' show redundancy and flawed complex structures. These errors occasionally cause difficulty for the reader, placing the grammar score at Band 5.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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