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)

Primary and secondary schools remain non-operational during summer holidays for a time period of two months or sometimes even longer in majority of the countries. There can be numerous advantages of long holidays, but it also brings noticeable drawbacks that must not be overlooked.

Long school holidays provide you with much time to help relax and recover from the workload of academic studies. Students throughout an year works so hard and accomplish different types of task. Sometimes they need some time to regain their energy that was mostly consumed by the stress of getting good grades at school. One can utilize this time to learn new skills and pay more attention to his hobbies.

On the other hand, some people are in the favour of limiting summer holidays to shorter period of time. They beleive, children often get distracted when they put themselves away from study for longer time duration. For example, students that were interested in business and had done some work placements during their holidays had never come back to their studies. They usually get lost in the business operations and management. Interestingly, this figure had been seen in those countries that offer long holidays, and also their is a probably that this number will increase in future and this will be alarming both for the country and student's overall development.

In conclusion, Although students can learn innovative skills and focus more on their hobbies during hoildays, they often get distracted by doing some other activities like business that lead towards giving up studies.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt, discussing both the value of long school holidays and the arguments in favour of shorter ones. However, the development of ideas remains somewhat limited and under-developed. For example, while the writer mentions that holidays help students recover from academic stress and pursue hobbies, this point is not fully extended with concrete examples or deeper explanations. Similarly, the argument about students getting distracted by business ventures is an unusual and somewhat unconvincing example that lacks general applicability. The position is generally clear throughout the essay, but the lack of thorough elaboration keeps the task response at a restricted level, as some parts are handled more superficially than others.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion, as well as distinct body paragraphs dedicated to each side of the prompt. Information and ideas are generally organised logically, allowing the reader to follow the main argument. However, cohesion is at times mechanical or faulty. The use of referencing is occasionally unclear, such as shifting between second-person pronouns ("you") and third-person pronouns ("he", "students") inconsistently within the body paragraphs. While paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate the contrasting viewpoints, the transition between ideas within paragraphs could be smoother and better managed.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting some less common lexical items such as "non-operational", "innovative skills", and "business operations". However, there are noticeable inaccuracies in word choice, collocation, and word form that reflect some limitations. Examples include phrases like "for a time period of two months", "throughout an year", "in the favour of", and "shorter period of time" missing necessary articles or prepositions. Additionally, there are minor lexical errors such as misspelling "beleive" instead of believe and using "hoildays", alongside slightly unnatural collocations like "this figure had been seen", though these issues do not seriously impede overall communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response exhibits a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt at varied grammatical structures. However, there are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation that appear throughout the text. These include subject-verb agreement issues, such as "Students throughout an year works", incorrect article usage like "in majority of the countries" and "in future", and prepositional errors within grammatical patterns such as "away from study for longer time duration". There are also awkward relative clauses and conditional expressions, such as "and also their is a probably that this number will increase in future and this will be alarming", which create some difficulty for the reader and prevent the grammar from reaching a higher level.

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