Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

School holidays are an essential part of the academic calendar, but their length is often argued. While long summer breaks provide opportunities for rest and personal growth, shorter holidays are argued to be more beneficial for maintaining academic progress.

There are some countries that provide children longer summer vacations, primarily to provide children break from their regular academic schedules, and obviously they can go for vacations with their families and friends so they can maintain their bonding and be socially engaged with their near ones. Also, students and teachers benefit from extended time to relax after months of intensive study. This helps reduce stress and prevent burnout.

For the children in secondary schools the vacations serve as an opportunity for them to learn new set of skills, recognize their passion and they may also work as part-timers and obtain experience in their field of choice, additionally it also helps them be street-smart because everything cannot be learnt theoretically.

However, children lose their daily rhythm of waking early, studying, and engaging in structured activities, making it harder to readjust when school starts again.

Longer breaks often lead to learning loss, where students forget what they have studied. Another major problem associated with longer breaks is that parents may struggle to arrange childcare during long holidays, and more significantly, excessive idle time can lead to boredom, lack of focus, and unhealthy habits such as excessive screen use.

In conclusion, long school holidays undeniably offer valuable opportunities for rest, family bonding, and personal development. Nevertheless, shorter breaks are more effective in sustaining academic progress and promoting social equity.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task, examining both the value of long school holidays and the arguments in favour of shorter ones. A clear position is maintained throughout the essay. The student provides relevant ideas, such as reducing stress, family bonding, and gaining work experience for the first question, and learning loss, routine disruption, and childcare challenges for the second question. However, some of these ideas, particularly regarding secondary school students learning new skills and being street-smart, tend to be slightly under-developed and could benefit from further elaboration or a specific example. Overall, the prompt is covered well, placing the response comfortably within the Band 6.5 to 7.0 range.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay presents a clear overall logical organization with an introduction, well-defined body paragraphs exploring both sides of the prompt, and a concise concluding summary. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas, such as the benefits of long breaks versus their drawbacks. Cohesive devices are employed to guide the reader through the text, as seen with phrases like 'Also', 'additionally', and 'However'. However, some referencing and linking are slightly mechanical or repetitive, and sentence transitions occasionally feel abrupt. Despite these minor issues, the progression of ideas remains clear and easy to follow throughout the response.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task, successfully communicating the student's arguments. There are attempts to use less common and topic-specific vocabulary, such as 'academic calendar', 'burnout', 'structured activities', 'social equity', and 'excessive idle time'. However, there are minor awkwardness issues in word choice and phrasing, such as writing 'their length is often argued' instead of 'debated', and 'provide children longer summer vacations, primarily to provide children break', which contains repetition and a missing article. These minor slips prevent the lexical score from reaching higher bands, reflecting a solid Band 6 performance.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and subordinate conjunctions effectively (e.g., 'While long summer breaks provide opportunities..., shorter holidays are argued to be...'). There is good control over punctuation, and many sentences are entirely error-free. However, a few grammatical inaccuracies and awkward phrasings persist, such as 'learn new set of skills' (missing article 'a') and 'students and teachers benefit from extended time to relax' (could be smoother). Errors are infrequent and never impede communication, aligning well with the descriptors for Band 7.

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