Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-29

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)

Long summer breaks for primary and secondary students are moderately frequent in several countries. This essay will discuss the worth of these lengthy vacations and will subsequently highlight the discussion for prioritising shorter holidays.

The idea of long vacation is to allow children to relax from regular studies. Holidays provide tangible benefits to students which contribute to their social and physical development. During school hours, students often continuously spend time studying and do not get leisure time to allocate into physical activities more frequently. A long summer holiday is a golden period that enables students to develop these skills by actively participating in sports, outgoing activities, friendly campaigns etc. Furthermore, holidays also facilitates students to participate in extracurricular activities that aligns with their core interests. For example, a secondary student in their summer holiday could join a mathematics competition, in which they'd get a lot more time to prepare for and participate in the competition. This helps students to maintain singular focus, rather than multifaceted focus during regular school weeks.

On the other hand, many individuals argue that there are compelling reasons why students should not be given long periods of summer breaks. One of the most crucial reasons is that children are vulnerable of getting distracted with other activities that are not necessarily helpful, such as playing video games or even overspending time on TV. In the long term, these activities could potentially convert into addiction that would easily distract them from studying and would result in stimulated focus. Secondly, extended breaks often lead to what educates call 'summer learning loss', whereby the students forget a significant study portion of the previous year's content. Consequently, teachers must utilise the first few days of the new term to revise previously taught topics rather than progressing into newer ones. For example, if students spent time on gaming and not revising content during the break, there is a high possibility they would forget a decent amount of course content.

In conclusion, while long summer holidays allow students to rest and pursue interests beyond the classroom, they can also encourage excessive screen time and lead to a decline in academic knowledge. A more balanced calendar, with shorter but more frequent breaks, may therefore offer the benefits of both approaches.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the task fully. The student successfully identifies the value of long school holidays, such as allowing children to relax and engage in extracurricular activities like sports or mathematics competitions. Furthermore, the arguments in favour of shorter holidays are well-explored, touching upon distractions like video games and the well-documented phenomenon of 'summer learning loss'. The position is clear throughout the essay and the ideas are extended and supported with relevant examples, demonstrating a solid understanding of the prompt requirements.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay displays clear logical organisation and progression throughout. Information and ideas are coherently structured, starting with an introduction that outlines the essay's direction, followed by distinct body paragraphs for each prompt requirement, and concluding with a concise summary. Cohesive devices are used reasonably well, such as 'Furthermore', 'On the other hand', and 'Consequently'. However, paragraphing and referencing are occasionally slightly mechanical, which keeps the response at a Band 7 level rather than higher.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The writer uses a sufficient range of vocabulary with some flexibility and precision, such as 'tangible benefits', 'singular focus', and 'summer learning loss'. There are occasional awkward word choices or collocations, such as 'overspending time on TV' instead of 'spending excessive time watching TV' or 'result in stimulated focus' which feels slightly unnatural. Nevertheless, the vocabulary is adequate to convey complex ideas clearly and allows for precise communication of the topic.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The writer demonstrates a good mix of simple and complex sentence structures, incorporating relative clauses and conditional forms effectively (e.g., 'If students spent time on gaming...'). There are some minor grammatical errors and awkward phrasing, such as 'holidays also facilitates' (agreement error) and 'children are vulnerable of getting distracted' (preposition error). Despite these occasional slips, the majority of sentences are clear, and punctuation is handled well, ensuring that communication is never impeded.

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