Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

In most countries, where the summer season reached to its peak intensity, like in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, etc. The schools announce a 2-3 months vacation. They also do provide with, summer vacation tasks, and homework for student to keep him in studying routine.

But today's argument is not in its favor. It is understood , the health of the students is precious and is the first priority to be protected. But, their learning skills and grooming also matters a lot. If we combine both the winter and the summer vacations, out of these 12 months of the year, it makes about atleast 4 months vacation, which is 1/3 of the year. The fact is, this climate is not a new challange to these countries. They are coping with it from beginning. Still, they never tried to adopt the alternative measures to lessen the vacations. The Government, instead of applying some credible strategies to reduce the intense climatic effects, move to close the schools. Notwithstanding, the Government should provide the cool water facilities, the proper functioning electronic appliances, the facilities of air conditioning in the schools during extreme summers. And the ooposite in the extreme Winter. It should develop an emergency first-aid desk, at every school during the extreme tenures, which would be able to provide medical assistance if any needed. And in the peak summers, if it seems that it is not possible for the very young students to survive the extreme weathers, it may convert the class schedules from on-campus to online system for not more than 2-3 weeks.

These steps would help the students to keep their routine upto-date, and continuous learning would be achieved, if the Government try to do so.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses both parts of the prompt, discussing the potential value of holidays and the arguments for shorter breaks, such as maintaining student routine and learning continuity. However, the first part of the prompt concerning the specific value of long school holidays is addressed somewhat superficially compared to the extensive focus on the counter-arguments and government intervention. While a clear position is taken advocating for shorter holidays and improved school infrastructure, the ideas are slightly under-developed and tend to wander into policy recommendations rather than fully exploring the educational or developmental pros and cons of long breaks. The response meets the minimum word count and offers relevant ideas, fitting well within the Band 5.5 to 6.0 range, leaning toward a 6.0 for covering both parts of the prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response is organized with a recognizable introduction, body discussion, and concluding thought. However, paragraphing is problematic; the second paragraph is exceptionally long and crams multiple distinct ideas together, such as climate challenges, infrastructure solutions, and online learning alternatives. Cohesive devices are sometimes faulty or mechanical, as seen with transitional phrases like 'Notwithstanding' and 'And the ooposite', which are misused or awkwardly placed. Referencing can also be unclear, such as pronoun shifts between singular and plural references ('student to keep him', 'in its favor'). Overall progression is present, but the structural flaws place it firmly at Band 5.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, attempting less common items such as 'peak intensity', 'credible strategies', and 'medical assistance'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors and awkward collocations throughout the text, including 'where the summer season reached to its peak intensity', 'summer vacation tasks', 'challange', and 'ooposite'. Spelling and word-choice errors occur with enough frequency to cause some distraction for the reader, though they do not completely impede communication. These characteristics align with the descriptor for Band 5.5, which falls between the limits of basic vocabulary and sufficient flexibility.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including conditional-style suggestions ('if it seems that it is not possible') and relative clauses ('which would be able to provide'). However, control over grammar and punctuation is inconsistent. There are frequent grammatical errors, such as sentence fragments and punctuation issues ('It is understood , the health'), subject-verb agreement problems ('learning skills and grooming also matters'), and article misuse ('from beginning'). Complex structures are often faulty, and these errors create frequent difficulty for the reader, justifying a band score of 5.0.

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

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