Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-28

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 6.5)

In several countries, primary and secondary schools choose to provide an extended summer holidays for two or more months. While longer holidays may provide numerous benefits in terms of proper rest and personal development, shorter vacations can help students practice routine and main their academic progress.

To begin with, longer school breaks provide students with opportunities to discover new hobbies and learn new skills. After a year of accademic pressure and rigorous study schedules an extended break can prove to be beneficial for their physical and mental heath. Along with that, they will get time to explore various interests in fields like sports, art and music. Moreover, they can also utilise their vacations spending quality time with their loved ones.

On the other hand, shorter school holidays also offers multiple benefits to students. Extended breaks lead to students forgetting previously taught concepts when they are away from the academic environment for a long period of time. Conseqently, they might get disrupted from their routines and they would find it difficult to switch to their previous lifestyles. Furthermore, shorter breaks assist students stay consistent with their routines and live an active life.

In conclusion, while longer breaks allow students to rest, develop personal interests and spend time with their families, shorter breaks can help maintain academic progress and consistent learning habits. Therfore, I strongly believe that a balanced approach proves to be more benefical to students providing them sufficient time for rest and extra curriculars without compromising their academic schedules and everyday habits.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response successfully addresses all parts of the prompt, exploring both the value of long school holidays and the arguments in favour of shorter ones. A clear position is maintained throughout the essay and reaffirmed in the conclusion. The student provides relevant ideas and examples, such as learning new skills during long breaks versus maintaining academic progress during shorter ones. The main ideas are appropriately extended and supported, aligning well with the Band 7 descriptor for Task Achievement. The response covers all required prompts effectively without any major omissions.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay displays a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. Information and ideas are arranged coherently, with each paragraph having a distinct focus. The student makes use of a range of cohesive devices to link ideas together, such as 'To begin with', 'Moreover', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusion'. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately to separate the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. While some cohesive relationships could be slightly more fluid, the overall management of cohesion and logical sequencing easily satisfies the requirements for a Band 7.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate to sufficient range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'rigorous study schedules', 'academic environment', and 'extracurriculars'. However, there are a few noticeable spelling and word choice errors, including 'academic' instead of academic, 'heath' instead of health, 'Conseqently' instead of consequently, 'main' instead of maintain, and 'Therfore' instead of therefore. These minor lexical inaccuracies and spelling slips prevent the response from reaching a higher band, placing it securely at a Band 6.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The writer employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an ability to use subordination and relative clauses effectively, such as in 'While longer holidays may provide numerous benefits...'. There are a few grammatical errors and awkward phrasings present in the text, for instance 'shorter school holidays also offers' (subject-verb agreement), 'assist students stay consistent' (missing infinitive marker), and missing commas in compound or introductory clauses. Nonetheless, these errors do not impede communication, and the sentence structures remain reasonably varied, warranting a Band 6.5.

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