Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-24

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)

Long summer holidays in primary and secondary education hold significant value personal growth for students' and allow them to have sufficient time to rest. However, shorter school holidays also have some advantages, particularly for developing students academic progress.

one of the main reasons for long summer holidays in primary and secondary school it has valuable time to enhance their ability and focusing on their hobbies.

Long term of time can makes students fell more confidence and focusing on their hobbies and improve their ability, and having rest to spend time with their family which is really significant for education process. During this time time parents can find out what there child interest and there personality as well and how build childish personality and their hobbies. For example a students can improve their weakness point and there favorite hobby during this period time such as, they can enhance their math problem during this holiday and trying to practice about something that they are feel interest about for instance going to swimming pool improve other skills.

On the other hand, short summer holiday can has some significant point about continuing their routine and not getting interrupted. Having short period of rest make students more responsible and not getting lazy which is lead to have appropriate plane to spend your holiday instead get lost doing nothing. Short holiday even it is better for education system ,most of the times students due to the long time holidays they forget the knowledge that they know, such as having holidays for one month makes them having their rest and still well known about school system.

In conclusion, Short holiday has great impact on education system compered to long holiday which is lead to follow their hobbies and enhance their weak point but I believe students need long term holiday to doing exercise and improve their skills rather than focusing only in school.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses both parts of the prompt, discussing the value of long school holidays (such as personal growth, resting, and pursuing hobbies) as well as the arguments in favour of shorter holidays (preventing learning loss and maintaining routines). However, the development of ideas is limited by frequent repetition and vague explanations. For instance, the discussion on hobbies and parental involvement tends to circle around the same points without providing deep or well-extended examples. Although a position is presented, the conclusion slightly contradicts the body paragraphs by shifting the stance. 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 paragraphs introducing the introduction, body points, and conclusion. However, cohesion is frequently faulty and mechanical. There are noticeable issues with referencing, such as vague pronouns ('this', 'they', 'it') whose antecedents are unclear, as seen in sentences like 'one of the main reasons for long summer holidays... it has valuable time'. Additionally, transitional phrases are basic or awkwardly integrated, and some sentences lack logical flow. Paragraphing is present and follows a standard essay structure, but internal cohesion within paragraphs needs strengthening to reach a higher band.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student attempts a range of vocabulary relevant to education and personal development, such as 'personal growth', 'academic progress', and 'education process'. However, there is a wide array of word-choice errors, awkward collocations, and word-formation mistakes, such as 'students' academic progress' instead of student, 'weakness point' instead of weak point, and 'feel interest about' instead of interested in. Spelling and morphological errors ('fell' instead of feel, 'plane' instead of plan, 'compered' instead of compared) also occur. While the vocabulary is adequate to convey the general message, the frequent inaccuracies place it firmly at band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some ambition in sentence structure. However, grammatical accuracy is weak throughout the text. There are frequent errors in verb tense, subject-verb agreement, and clause structures, such as 'short summer holiday can has some significant point' and 'due to the long time holidays they forget the knowledge that they know'. Punctuation is also problematic, with run-on sentences that make reading difficult. Because errors are frequent and occasionally cause the reader some difficulty in parsing meaning, the appropriate band is 5.0.

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