Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-03

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 education system worldwide, primary school and secondary schools extended their holidays for more than two months. While the long pause offer significant benefits for student's well being, it also generates a debate regarding its impacts on academic progress and family logistics. This essay will explore the value of long holidays and examine the arguments in favour of shorter school holidays.

the primary goal of long holidays lies in the opportunity to rest and family bonding. Continuous academic progress can cause the burnout and it develops feeling of depression inside the both students and teachers, long holidays helps younger generations to catch a breath and spend time with their families. For example most of the students use the summer holidays to go on trips with their families while some of them go to camps to learn some new things.

On the other hand, there a compelling arguments for shorten these extended breaks. People believes that the long breaks can cause the academic loss mostly in the core subjects like maths and science that needs constant attention to learn. In addition in longer breaks some parents can't afford to appoint a private tutor that helps their childrens in breaks. For example most of the children in summer holidays do not open their academic books and trace their progress. As a result when they come back school from holidays they struggle to remember things like formulas and chapters core.

In conclusion, while extended summer holidays provide vital rest and opportunity for family bonding, they come with family logistics and academic loss drawbacks. Shorter, more frequent breaks throughout the year could potentially balance between rest and academic education.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing both the value of long school holidays and the arguments in favour of shorter breaks. However, some ideas are under-developed or lack sufficient extension. For instance, the discussion on the value of holidays touches on rest and family bonding, and the second body paragraph outlines arguments such as academic loss and financial strain on parents for private tutors. Despite these relevant points, the explanations remain somewhat general and rely on broad assertions rather than fully elaborated examples. The student establishes a clear position by the conclusion, which helps balance the two viewpoints. Note that 8 words copied directly from the task prompt were not counted toward the minimum length requirement, but the length requirement itself is fully met.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion, demonstrating a logical sequence of ideas from the benefits to the drawbacks of long holidays. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate distinct main points. However, cohesion at the sentence level is occasionally mechanical or faulty. For example, the transition at the beginning of the second body paragraph is missing a proper linking phrase or subject, appearing as an isolated thought. Referencing is also occasionally unclear, such as pronoun usage and dangling connectors like 'In addition in longer breaks'. While the organizational structure is apparent, smoother and more varied cohesive devices are needed to achieve a more natural progression throughout the response.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'well being', 'academic progress', and 'private tutor'. However, there are noticeable word choice, collocation, and spelling errors that occasionally detract from the precision of the writing, though they rarely impede overall communication. Examples of vocabulary inaccuracies include 'education system' instead of 'education systems', 'extended' used instead of 'extend', 'shorten' instead of 'shortening', and 'academic loss' rather than 'learning loss' or 'academic regression'. Furthermore, awkward phrases like 'trace their progress' and 'chapters core' demonstrate a limited ability to handle natural collocations reliably at times.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writing demonstrates a limited range of structures, relying mostly on simple sentences alongside some attempts at complex forms. The response contains frequent errors in grammar and punctuation, particularly regarding subject-verb agreement, articles, and plurals. Examples include 'primary school and secondary schools extended' (tense and agreement issues), 'the long pause offer' (subject-verb agreement), 'feeling of depression' (missing article or pluralisation), 'inside the both students' (unnecessary article), 'there a compelling arguments' (missing verb/contraction), and 'when they come back school' (missing preposition). Attempts at complex sentences are frequently faulty, leading to structural awkwardness that can cause occasional difficulty for the reader.

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