Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

This is true that in many countries, primary and secondary schools close for two months or more in the summer holidays. But in some countries, there are summer or winter camps where students are allowed to visit school for shorter period of the day and do some curricular and extra-curricular activities. This is mandatory in some schools while not in other schools. The value of long school holidays are supported mainy in primary schools and in countries where the climate is extreme. Extreme climate like snow, high temperatures, heavy rain and hail make it impossible for student to visit school daily. Many school extend holidays because of these reasons.

Long vacation periods are encouraged beacuse student get a chance for recreational activities like travel, staycations, spending quality time with their families. It can not be denied that students would have a ton of home task from school which is sometimes hard to complete in a deadline as they are busy enjoying their once in a year vacations. Although long vacation period gives students a sense of relief from their hectic routines. They come back to their schools with fresh minds and motivation.

Parents should involve thier children in activities which ate good for their physical and mental well-being like outdoor games, book reading, traveling to a new place. It is better if the vacation task syllabus has more recreational activities rather then only acedemics.

Schools in various countries like Pakistan do summer or winter camps for secondary students, thus shortens the vacation periods. The camps here are only acedemics, and pressurize students and teachers for completing the syllabus in a shorter time. In this way they get more time for revision. This is also an important step for goal oriented schools.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both the value of long school holidays and the arguments for shorter ones, such as academic camps and revision time. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and uneven across the essay. For instance, the discussion on extreme climates and primary schools is introduced quickly without deep exploration. Similarly, the points regarding homework deadlines and family time are mentioned but not fully extended or supported with specific examples. To move to a higher level, the writer needs to ensure that every main idea is thoroughly explained and supported with relevant details or clear examples throughout the essay.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement and attempts to organise ideas into distinct paragraphs dealing with different aspects of the topic. However, progression is sometimes hindered by abrupt transitions between sentences and ideas, such as moving from weather conditions directly into recreational activities without a smooth logical bridge. Cohesive devices are used rather mechanically or are occasionally inadequate, and referencing is not always clear, as seen with pronouns like 'They' referring back ambiguously. Paragraphing is present, but internal cohesion within paragraphs requires better logical links and signposting to guide the reader effortlessly through the argument.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student displays an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for addressing the task, including terms like 'extra-curricular activities', 'recreational activities', and 'goal oriented schools'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors and issues with word choice and spelling, such as 'mainy' instead of mainly, 'beacuse', 'thier', 'ate' instead of are, and 'acedemics' instead of academics. Additionally, collocation and word forms are occasionally awkward, such as 'shorter period of the day' instead of shorter periods during the day. These errors do not completely impede communication, but they restrict the precision and flexibility needed for a higher score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writing demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures like conditional and subordinate clauses. However, there are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation, particularly with articles ('visit school' instead of visiting the school), prepositions ('in a deadline' instead of by a deadline), and subject-verb agreement ('The value... are' instead of is, 'student get' instead of students get). These frequent errors in basic grammatical patterns and parts of speech can cause occasional difficulty for the reader and reveal limited control when attempting more complex syntactic structures.

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