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 many countries, most of the schools are often closed for a couple of months in the summer holidays due to the many positive reasons whereas some people opine to shorten the school holidays. This eassy intends to examine why leanthy holidays are necessary and what the drawbacks.

Firstly, the main purpose behind the holidays are stress relief and exploration of the new things. Students can go to the park or the swimming pool on vacation to relieve stress and give rest to their body and mind. They can also spend time with their friends, family members, or relatives, which makes the relationship stronger with them, whereas they can also try new dishes and explore different places, which makes them fresh and healthy.

However, the significant disadvantage of this is that children quickly forget what they studied before the holiday, and they also don't know how to write and read properly for the first time after the holidays because their body is adjusted according to the vacation what they have done. Therefore, this can put teachers as well as pupils in a difficult situation.

In conclusion, school holidays are essential but their downside makes it difficult for pupils to retain the knowledge they gained before the holidays. I strongly believe that shortening holidays for 2 weeks should balance both pros and cons.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response addresses the main parts of the prompt by discussing the value of long holidays and the arguments for shorter ones, but the ideas remain limited and under-developed throughout. The reasoning relies on repetitive and simplistic points, such as mentioning going to the park or eating new dishes to relieve stress. Furthermore, the position is somewhat basic and lacks deep exploration. It is also important to note a critical issue regarding length: the response contains 222 words, which fails to meet the minimum requirement of 250 words. This shortfall directly impacts the fullness of the task completion.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays some organisation with basic paragraphing and clear attempts at sequencing ideas, but there is a lack of clear overall progression. Paragraphs are introduced with standard cohesive devices such as 'Firstly' and 'However', but these feel somewhat mechanical. Referencing occasionally becomes unclear, such as in the third paragraph where the phrase 'what they have done' creates confusion regarding the link between vacation activities and physical adjustment. While the overall arrangement is broadly coherent, the connections between sentences often feel repetitive and lack sophisticated transitions.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate for the task. There are noticeable spelling and word choice errors, such as 'eassy' instead of essay, 'leanthy' instead of lengthy, and 'praise' or 'opine' used with awkward phrasing. Word formation and collocation issues are also present, for example, 'exploration of the new things' rather than exploring new things, and 'give rest to their body'. These errors and the restricted range of vocabulary mean that ideas are conveyed with noticeable lapses that occasionally cause mild difficulty for the reader.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student demonstrates a limited range of structures, relying mostly on straightforward sentences alongside attempts at complex forms that are frequently faulty. For instance, the sentence structure in 'their body is adjusted according to the vacation what they have done' contains grammatical inaccuracies and awkward clause formulation. Frequent errors occur in areas such as subject-verb agreement ('the main purpose... are'), article usage, and prepositions within patterns. These persistent errors require some effort from the reader to untangle, placing the grammatical control squarely at this band level.

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