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)
Nowadays, In many countries schools are closed for two months of period of time or more in summer vacation both primary and secondary grade studants. Some people argue that these holidays are valuble for students while, others argues shorter school vacations are more convenient. It is good to have holidays but education is more beneficial for students.
One the one hand, childeren will get considerable time period to spend their vacation with family members. Many families wait until it gets school holidays to go on a adventures trips. For example, Some parents are planned to go on a trip to abroad with their children. Meanwhile, some families love to travel to their villages and to spend time with grandparents. Therefore, the having long vaccation is so greatful. Moreover, children get an opportunity to focus about their studies. For example, some students got low results for difficult subjects. Therefore, in holiday periods they can focus more about the difficult subject areas. It will help to start new semester confident manner.
On the other hand, people argue that shorter school vacations are favourable. The beleive that it is limits the teaching time. For example, limited teaching time causes for students mental health. After the long vacation many schools allocated much time for per subject. So the teachers will cover high level of subject matters in shorter time period. It will get students more stressfull mind. Moreover, longer vacations relaxed students and sometimes they spend time by playing whole day. Some students forgot thir academics and do not engadge with lessons.
In conclusion, the longer vacatio period is also better to have lesiure time after the academic semester. But students must have responsibility to balance both studies and journies. Also, Parents and teachers should help for them to aceive this matter right way.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The response addresses both parts of the prompt, discussing the value of long school holidays and the arguments in favour of shorter ones. A clear position is maintained throughout the essay. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and occasionally disjointed. For instance, the argument about long holidays helping students focus on difficult subjects is slightly contradictory to the idea of relaxing, though it is still relevant. The ideas are extended with examples, such as family trips and catching up on studies, but some points remain under-developed. For example, the claim that limited teaching time causes mental health issues lacks sufficient explanation. Overall, the task is addressed adequately, fitting the criteria for a Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing, dividing the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion appropriately. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'One the one hand,' 'On the other hand,' and 'In conclusion,' which helps guide the reader through the structure. However, referencing is sometimes unclear, and the use of cohesive devices can feel mechanical or slightly awkward, such as 'Therefore, the having long vaccation is so greatful.' Paragraph organisation is generally logical, but progression within paragraphs sometimes falters due to abrupt shifts between ideas, such as moving from family trips to academic focus without a smooth transition. These features place the response firmly at a Band 6.0 level.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student attempts to use a range of vocabulary appropriate for the task, including terms like 'valuble', 'convenient', 'considerable time period', and 'stressfull mind'. However, there are numerous lexical and spelling errors throughout the text, such as 'studants', 'valuble', 'childeren', 'adventures trips', 'vaccation', 'greatful', 'beleive', 'thir', 'engadge', and 'lesiure'. While these errors do not severely impede communication, they are frequent enough to restrict the score. The vocabulary is adequate for the task, demonstrating some attempts at less common items, but precision and control are lacking, making Band 5.5 an appropriate descriptor.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as conditional and subordinate clauses ('While, others argues shorter school vacations are more convenient'). However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors in articles, prepositions, subject-verb agreement, and tense consistency. Examples of errors include 'In many countries schools are closed for two months of period of time', 'some parents are planned to go', 'causes for students mental health', 'allocated much time for per subject', and 'help for them to aceive this matter right way'. Because these errors occur frequently and occasionally cause some difficulty for the reader, the grammar performance aligns with a Band 5.0.
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