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 several countries, primary and secondary schools have summer holidays of two or more than two months. Although long school holidays have many advantages, however I believe that schools with shorter summer breaks have also some benefits.

To begin with. in summer zone areas schools are often remain close for two to three months in many countries. This has a positive impact both on teachers and students. For instance, this will give a time to the faculty staff and students to just relax and overcome their burdens of academic pressure. Furthermore, this will also provide an opportunity for them to spend some quality time with their families and paln a trip with their friends and families. Moreover, during the holidays students who are not able to complete their syllabus, whether it is completeing a notebook or preparing for exams. This gives them time to finish their remaining copies and also get ready for the papers.

On the other hand, sometimes longer holidays have some drawbacks. The school which is close for several months, the students interest and their focus distracts because of engaging in different activities rather than academic and school work related tasks. This also has a negative impact on a school. For example, in holidays some teachers search for better opportunities, in this case the school faces the shortage of a teacher.

In conclusion, there are a lot of benefits of the longer holidays in both primary and seconadry schools. It gives some kind of freedom and relaxation time to schoolchildren and teaching staff. However, more holidays sometimes also lead to many shortcomes for the students according to their determination and interest as well as schools also effects.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt, discussing both the value of long school holidays and the arguments in favour of shorter ones. A clear position is maintained throughout the essay. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive in places. For instance, the points regarding relaxation and spending time with family are mentioned generally without deep extension. In the body paragraph discussing shorter breaks, the argument focuses primarily on student distraction and teacher retention without fully exploring other academic or economic benefits. While the task is adequately fulfilled to earn a solid score, the ideas require further elaboration and more specific examples to reach higher bands. Therefore, a band score of 6.0 is appropriate.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing separating the introduction, two body paragraphs, and the conclusion. However, cohesion is frequently faulty or mechanical. For example, the transitional phrase 'Although long school holidays have many advantages, however I believe' incorrectly combines 'although' and 'however' in the same clause. Additionally, sentence boundaries and punctuation are sometimes handled poorly, such as 'To begin with. in summer zone areas schools are often remain close' where a full stop is misused instead of a comma. Reference pronouns like 'this' are occasionally vague in their antecedent connection. Logical progression is present, but mechanical errors in cohesive devices and referencing limit the score to 5.5.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully communicating everyday ideas related to education and holidays. Attempts are made to use less common items such as 'academic pressure', 'retention', or 'determination', but there are noticeable inaccuracies in word choice, collocation, and spelling throughout the response. Examples include 'paln' instead of plan, 'completeing', 'shortcomes' instead of shortcomings, and the awkward collocation 'summer zone areas'. Additionally, the word 'effects' is used incorrectly as a verb in the conclusion ('schools also effects'). These lexical errors do not completely impede communication, but they restrict the score to a 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some variety in structure. However, frequent grammatical errors and awkward phrasing hinder overall accuracy. Notable errors include tense and verb-form misuse, such as 'schools are often remain close', 'students interest and their focus distracts', and dangling modifiers. Punctuation errors are also prevalent, particularly with sentence fragments like 'Moreover, during the holidays students who are not able to complete their syllabus...', which lacks a main predicate clause. While these errors do not totally obscure the meaning, their frequency prevents the essay from achieving a higher band. A score of 5.0 accurately reflects this control.

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