Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-01

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 many country many schools are shut for long term. It pose several benefits. For instant, it helps students to relaxe. However, it can cause student to loose what they learn in school.

There are several advantage of long school holiday. It helps students to relax and cut from studies. In summer students feel exausted which effect their performance in studies and also pose detrimental affect on their physical and mental well being. For instance, school in mardan record several health issues like diarrhea caused by over heating in summer. Consequently long break from school can overcome these issues.

There are several arguments in favour of short school holidays.Firstly, long holidays can lead to forget everything that have been learnt in the school for instant my cousin waste his summer holidays playing video games and watching cartoons which results in losing all the lessons and lectures he had learnt in the school. Secondly,due to long term school holidays childrens loss intrusts in studies and adopt bad habits for example, children in our society in summer holidays stay outside from the homes all day along with their friends which make them more irresponsible and also make their parents stressed and worried about their childrens.

Consequently long term holidays have several advantages like student get some rest. However, their are several drawbacks of shuting schools from two to three months in summers like it may leads to forget the lectures and also loss intrust in studies so balance strategy should be apply that do not harm the students and only benefits them.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt regarding the value of long school holidays and the arguments for shorter ones, reflecting the criteria for this level. However, the ideas remain somewhat limited and under-developed. For example, while the writer mentions relaxation and health issues like diarrhea due to overheating, the explanation lacks sufficient extension and depth. Similarly, the arguments for shorter holidays focus primarily on forgetting schoolwork and adopting bad habits, but these points are supported with narrow, personal anecdotes rather than broader, well-reasoned arguments. To reach the next level, the writer needs to fully develop each point with more elaborated explanations and broader examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The text demonstrates some basic organization with clear paragraph breaks separating the introduction, the body paragraphs, and the conclusion. There is an attempt to use cohesive devices such as 'Firstly,' 'Secondly,' and 'Consequently,' but their use is often repetitive and sometimes mechanical. Furthermore, the overall progression within paragraphs lacks smoothness due to abrupt shifts in ideas and run-on sentences. Referencing is occasionally unclear, as seen in phrases like 'it pose several benefits' where the antecedent is vague. To improve, the writer should use a wider variety of cohesive ties more naturally and ensure a clearer, more logical progression of ideas from sentence to sentence.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for the task, but the range is limited and features noticeable errors that sometimes cause difficulty for the reader. There are frequent spelling and word-form errors, such as 'relaxe' instead of 'relax', 'exausted' instead of 'exhausted', 'effect' instead of 'affect', 'loss' instead of 'lose', and 'intrusts' instead of 'interest'. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary, such as 'detrimental affect', but inaccuracies in collocation and word choice persist throughout the essay. To achieve a higher score, the writer must expand their lexical repertoire, pay closer attention to word forms and spelling, and use less common vocabulary with greater precision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The essay relies heavily on a limited range of sentence structures, and attempts at more complex sentences are frequently faulty. There are recurrent grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues like 'In many country many schools are shut' and 'childrens loss', as well as missing articles and incorrect prepositions. Punctuation is also problematic, with run-on sentences and missing commas creating reading strain. While the meaning can generally be understood despite the errors, the frequency of grammatical mistakes places this response firmly in the current band. To progress, the writer needs to demonstrate better control over basic grammatical structures, plurals, and verb forms while incorporating accurate complex sentences.

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