Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

Primary and secondary schools are closed at least two months during summer breaks in several countries. While this development is necessary for many students, there are still some potential drawbacks.

Long school breaks are often considered essential for pupils as they offer several benefits. One of the major factors is that long holidays encourage students to engage in more leisure activities after a busy school year. They may have more opportunities to attend parties with friends or spend quality time with dedicated ones, allowing them to unwind and recharge their batteries. Moreover, having longer summer breaks is a great chance to immerse themselves in extracurriculars and learn new skills. By enrolling in outdoors activities, children are capable of widening their social circles, acquiring new knowledge, and most significant, possessing new sets of skills that are essential in the long run. For instance, plenty of teenagers tend to take part in Scouts during summer since this community is renowned for its friendly environment and ability to foster life skills, giving participants full awareness of emergency cases in daily life.

However, there are numerous arguments poiting out that long school holidays are not as advantageous as shorter ones. Initially, long summer breaks may potentially make children forget what they studied during school year, as they tend to spend more time taking part in leisure activities. Furthermore, pupils may find it difficult and pressing getting back on track after no revision of what they acquired for over two months. This situation creates obstacles for students and reduces their concentration levels, leading to poor performance at school.

In conclusion, while many individuals argue that short school breaks are better for students, I strongly believe that all the benefits of this development are more significant.

Word Count: 290

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the value of long school holidays and the arguments in favour of shorter ones, maintaining a clear personal position in the conclusion. However, the development of ideas is uneven. While the second paragraph presents some relevant discussion on extracurricular activities and life skills, the exploration of drawbacks in the third paragraph is somewhat limited and under-developed, relying on brief generalisations about memory loss and readjustment difficulties without deeper extension. To reach a higher level, all parts of the prompt would need to be equally extended and supported with fully elaborated explanations and examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear, logical progression of ideas from introduction to conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct arguments, with the second paragraph focusing on the benefits and the third on the drawbacks. Cohesive devices such as "While this development", "One of the major factors", "Moreover", and "However" are generally used to guide the reader, although referencing and mechanical linking can occasionally feel slightly formulaic, such as the rigid transitional phrases at the start of paragraphs. To achieve a higher band, the progression between sentences would need to be smoother and more natural, avoiding predictable transition markers.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as "extracurriculars", "unwind and recharge their batteries", and "readjustment difficulties". However, there are some minor lexical inaccuracies and awkward word choices, such as "dedicated ones" instead of "loved ones" or "family members", "outdoors activities" instead of "outdoor activities", and "poiting out" (a spelling error). These errors do not impede communication, but they reflect a level where vocabulary control is not yet fully flexible or precise. Incorporating more natural collocations and ensuring greater spelling accuracy would elevate this criterion.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

The writing demonstrates a successful mix of simple and complex sentence forms, showcasing a strong foundation that bridges into higher-level control. Structures such as participle clauses ("By enrolling in outdoors activities, children are capable of...") and subordinate clauses are used effectively. There are some noticeable grammatical slips and awkward patterns, such as "closed at least two months" lacking the preposition 'for', and "pressing getting back on track" which contains an awkward gerund construction. Punctuation and overall sentence control are generally solid, and while errors do occur, they rarely impede communication. A higher band would require a greater frequency of error-free complex sentences and finer control over prepositions and verb complements.

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

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