Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-26

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)

A common practice shown in multiple countries around the world is summer vacations of two months or more, in institutes of primary and secondary level education. In my opinion, it could be an advantageous term for children but can have serious cosequences if not managed efficiently. I will support and explain my opinion further in the essay.

Summer vacations are held longer than winter vacations in middle and high schools, mainly because of intense climate and temperature conditions in the summer. The ulterior reason behind these long holidays is the harsh temperature during the month of june and july which could possibly lead to health risks of the students. As problems like dehydration, skin rashes, suffocation, food poisoning e.t.c are seen on daily basis during this period and young children are more sensitive to them so they are advised to stay in their enclosed environment in homes and to cover their necessary summer tasks in order to not waste their time. But this can also lead to some unwanted outcomes like children got off-track to their daily routines also their studies and other important activities can be effected badly.

In contrast to it, issues arised from long holidays can be managed by preciely designing shorter term of these holidays. Students are tend to forget their studies if they are being off-campus for too long. It is also shown in many researches that daily routine adapted by school going students is more consistent than students returning from their long term holidays. For example, the school timings can be adjusted with the heat hours so school can be managed side by side.

To conclde, summer holidays are indeed important for the physical and somewhat mental health of our children but dragging them too much or extending them to months can turn them into disadvantageous, so managing them properly and giving less holidays, but in divided sections, can be a great alternative to it.

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 (primarily health and climate considerations) as well as the arguments in favour of shorter ones (routine disruption and forgetting studies). However, the position is somewhat unclear in the introduction where the student states it can be 'an advantageous term for children' before immediately warning of serious consequences. The development of ideas is occasionally superficial, such as mentioning health issues like 'dehydration, skin rashes, suffocation, food poisoning e.t.c' without deeper elaboration. While all aspects of the prompt are touched upon, the supporting arguments could be extended further to achieve a higher band level.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay has a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used to separate different ideas, such as discussing the reasons for long holidays in the second paragraph and the counter-arguments for shorter holidays in the third. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty. For instance, transitional phrases like 'In contrast to it' are slightly unnatural, and referencing is occasionally vague, such as 'issues arised from long holidays'. Furthermore, the flow between sentences within the second paragraph is disrupted by a very long, run-on sentence listing health problems and home tasks.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'advantageous', 'ulterior', 'dehydration', and 'preciely'. However, there are notable lexical errors and awkward collocations throughout the text, such as 'cosequences' (spelling), 'intense climate and temperature conditions', 'ulterior reason' (used incorrectly, as 'underlying' was likely intended), and 'issues arised'. Additionally, the abbreviation 'e.t.c' is informal and inappropriate for an academic essay. These errors do not impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score to a solid band 6.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt at varied structures. There are, however, frequent grammatical errors and punctuation slips. Examples include 'Students are tend to forget' (passive voice error), 'daily routine adapted by school going students' (missing hyphen and awkward phrasing), and sentence fragments or comma splices such as 'also their studies and other important activities can be effected badly' ('effected' used instead of 'affected'). While the meaning is generally clear and communication is rarely impeded, the persistence of these errors prevents the grammar score from reaching a band 7.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.