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 countries, primary and secondary schools close for two months or more in the summer holidays. The main reason for schools to do so is providing students enough time for recreation and also to protect them from scorching heat.

The value of long holidays is they can take a break from the daily repetative school days in hot climate and utilize that time to enjoy their time with family in their home or travel somewhere. Some childrens goes to their grandparents's place which will help to make their bond stronger. While some goes to family vacation to some new destinations for recreational activities. They gets engage in whatever activities, they can have a break from going to school in a hot summer.

But two months or more holidays can be extreme in some cases so the shorter vacations would be better. A very long period of distance from studies can impact in their education as they have to restart the syllabus. Some parents are busy with their works so they may face difficulty managing their childrens. So, the longer the vacation, the higher the chances of students being distant from study. For example, there was a boy in my neighborhood, he had a 2 long month which he spend by going to his grandfather and he couldn't handle him but his parents were busy with their work and he faced difficulty in catching course after the reopening.

In conclusion, School students should be given summer holidays but for a limited period of time.Very short may not be enough and a long vacation may create a bigger problems. So, everything should be balanced in order to make a maximum out of it.

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, acknowledging the prompt's main components. Note that 17 words copied directly from the prompt were not counted towards the minimum length requirement, though the overall response still comfortably satisfies the required length. However, the ideas remain somewhat limited and under-developed. For instance, the discussion on the value of holidays touches on family bonding and travel, but lacks fully extended examples or depth. Similarly, the arguments for shorter holidays rely heavily on a single personal anecdote about a neighbourhood boy rather than a broader sociological or educational discussion. To reach a higher level, the writer needs to present fully developed ideas with extended explanations and well-supported examples for each prompt requirement.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay demonstrates some organisation with a discernible introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion, providing a coherent overall arrangement. Paragraphing is used to separate the main themes, such as the value of holidays versus the arguments for shorter breaks. However, there is a lack of clear overall progression and cohesive devices are at times inadequate, inaccurate, or repetitive. For example, sentences within paragraphs often rely on basic transitions like 'While some goes to' or 'So, the longer the vacation', which creates a mechanical flow. Referencing is also occasionally unclear, such as ambiguous pronoun use like 'he couldn't handle him'. To improve, the writer should employ a wider range of cohesive devices more flexibly and ensure logical transitions between sentences and paragraphs to guide the reader smoothly through the argument.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate to communicate the basic ideas of the task. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary, such as 'recreation', 'scorching heat', and 'reopening', but there are noticeable errors in word choice, word form, and spelling that occasionally cause difficulty for the reader. Examples of these inaccuracies include 'repetative' instead of repetitive, 'childrens' instead of children, and 'family vacation' missing a preposition like on a family vacation. Phrases like 'They gets engage in' also show persistent lexical and grammatical blending issues. To achieve a higher band, the writer must expand their lexical range, demonstrate better control over word forms and collocations, and eliminate spelling mistakes to ensure precise and natural expression.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response displays a limited range of structures, relying primarily on simple sentences alongside a few attempts at complex forms that are often faulty. Frequent errors in grammar and punctuation can cause some difficulty for the reader throughout the text. There are notable issues with subject-verb agreement and pluralisation, such as 'Some childrens goes' and 'two months or more holidays can be extreme'. Prepositional and structural patterns are also mishandled, as seen in phrases like 'impact in their education' and 'spend by going'. Punctuation is basic, and sentence boundaries can be blurred by run-on clauses. To progress to a higher band, the writer must incorporate a wider variety of error-free complex sentence structures, maintain accurate verb tenses and agreement, and refine control over grammatical patterns.

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

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