Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-02

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 5.0)

In several countries, Summer holidays offer to primary and secondary schools for two months or more. I will explain the value of long holidays and also give arguments in favour of shorter holidays.

Firstly, students can spend their time in part-time jobs. Although they did their work in their spare time, they can build their career. For example, if they do internships, they can acquire practical knowledge. Secondly, they can learn useful skills which will be helpful in their future. They can learn IT skills because this is very helpful in every field. For instance, if you have IT skills, you can work in your favourite company after completing your studies.

However, students have fewer disadvantages of long holidays. Firstly, they waste their time in social media activities. When they scroll reels on instagram, they waste about an hour. Furthermore, students adopt bad company for their entertainment and their behaviour with their parents change. For example, they waste their time in illegal games relate to usury. As a result, they fail in their life experience.

Long school holidays is valuable if students have knowlegde about value of time. They can make their vacations more valuable, if they learn skills or build their carrer.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt regarding the value of long holidays and arguments for shorter ones, but the ideas remain limited and under-developed. For example, the mention of part-time jobs and IT skills is superficial and lacks sufficient explanation or extension. Furthermore, the length requirement is not met as the essay contains only 203 words, falling 47 words short of the 250-word minimum. This restricted development and insufficient word count significantly limit the overall task response.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is some organisation present in the essay, with basic paragraph breaks used to separate the introduction, advantages, disadvantages, and conclusion. However, there is a lack of clear overall progression. Cohesive devices are sometimes used, such as 'Firstly' and 'Secondly', but they tend to be mechanical and repetitive, and referencing is occasionally unclear, as seen in the phrase 'students have fewer disadvantages of long holidays' which misuses the contrast marker.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate to convey basic ideas. There are noticeable lexical errors and awkward collocations that cause some difficulty for the reader, such as 'adopt bad company', 'illegal games relate to usury', and the misspelling 'knowlegde'. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary items, but these choices frequently reveal inaccuracies in word choice and phrasing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response displays a limited range of grammatical structures. While there are some attempts at complex sentences, these are often faulty, as seen in conditional structures like 'Long school holidays is valuable if students have knowlegde...'. There are frequent errors in verb forms, subject-verb agreement, and prepositions, such as 'Summer holidays offer to primary and secondary schools' and 'their behaviour with their parents change'. These frequent errors can cause some difficulty for the reader.

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