Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-27

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)

In recent years, there is an ongoing trend of longer summer vacations for students of the primary and secondary school. There are several advantages of longer breaks but hidden disadvantages should not be ignored. On the other hand, some arguments are in favour of shorter vacations. This essay will discuss and compare both viewpoints with relevant examples.

Nowadays, students are overburdened by tremendous amount of assignments from the school during their summer break. For example, students in higher grades have more advanced subjects like chemistry, biology, social studies, mathematics and physics which are not only time consuming but also detailed and complex to understand. These subjects need uninteruppted attention to excel. Consequently, longer summer breaks would help students to distribute their time and effort wisely and efficiently. Therefore, longer holidays would benefit students to understand concepts more thoroughly and equally enjoy their time-off.

While longer breaks have their own benefits, hidden drawbacks should be ignored. In primary school, students are freshly introduced to the concept of the education system. For example, if a school offers longer vacation, it would be challenging for a student to cope up with the mental pressure. Consequently, shorter holidays would result in more mental retention, less repetition of the syllabus and better outcome for the early birds. Additionally, small summer breaks would inculcate several lifelong qualities like time management, resilience and performing under pressure. These qualities will not only help students to utilise their limited time but also prepare them for future hurdles.

In conclusion, the length of summer break should depend on whether a student is in primary or secondary school. Primary school students will benefit from shorter summer breaks by more retention and less revision while students in secondary level will excel more with sufficient time available for complex subjects.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt, discussing the value of long school holidays and the arguments in favour of shorter ones, concluding with a nuanced view distinguishing between primary and secondary students. The student presents a clear position throughout the essay. Ideas are generally well supported, such as mentioning complex subjects like 'chemistry, biology, social studies, mathematics and physics' in secondary school. However, there are some minor conceptual confusions, notably in the third paragraph where the phrase 'hidden drawbacks should be ignored' appears to be a contradiction or slip of the pen for 'should not be ignored', and the logic surrounding primary school students coping with mental pressure is slightly contradictory. Overall, the response meets the criteria for Band 6.5, leaning towards Band 7 for fully covering all parts of the task with a well-developed position, though minor logical inconsistencies prevent a higher score.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different viewpoints, such as focusing on secondary school needs in the second paragraph and primary school needs in the third. Cohesive devices are employed, including transitional phrases like 'For example', 'Consequently', and 'In conclusion'. However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For instance, the transition in the second paragraph ('While longer breaks have their own benefits, hidden drawbacks should be ignored') misstates the intended meaning due to a missing negative, disrupting the logical flow. Additionally, some paragraph transitions feel slightly abrupt. Overall, the organizational structure is clear, but the mechanical or faulty use of cohesive phrasing places this firmly at Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating topic-related terms such as 'primary and secondary school', 'summer break', 'uninterrupted attention', and 'time management'. There are occasional attempts at less common vocabulary, but these are sometimes marred by awkward word choices or collocations, such as 'tremendous amount of assignments' (should be 'a tremendous amount'), 'mental retention' (instead of memory retention), and 'early birds' (misused to refer to young primary school children). Spelling is generally accurate, but minor lexical slips occur throughout the text. Because the vocabulary is sufficient to communicate the ideas clearly despite occasional inaccuracies, this warrants a Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating control over relative clauses and conditional structures, such as 'if a school offers longer vacation, it would be challenging...'. However, there are several grammatical errors and awkward phrasings throughout the text. Examples include 'In recent years, there is an ongoing trend' (tense inconsistency, should be 'there has been'), 'students of the primary and secondary school' (unnecessary article), 'cope up with' (redundant preposition, should be 'cope with'), and 'longer vacation' (missing plural). Punctuation is generally acceptable, but grammatical inaccuracies occur with enough frequency to impede complete fluency, placing this performance at Band 6.0.

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