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 most countries initial and subordinate close for two months and much in summer vocations. There are many benefits and few draw bags.

on one hand, mostly students and their parents wait for children summer vocations because this is the time in which all the family go outside for tour or their recreational places. Students take part in the other activities like in sports its very beneficial for students' health and for their energy level. They are exploring the world with their friends they go to see new cultures in different regions and also, they want some rest in holidays that intense the pressure of academic burden and in leisure time the meet to various peoples and make relationship outside the school friends. and they relax the mind after a year.

On the other hand, in the long period of holidays many individuals complain that the students forget their last education concepts research and their habits are change with the time while, the short-term vocations help students to focus on their goals and on their study, discipline, and also, they keep continue their study. For example, in shorter school holidays, students remain in habit in their daily routine its increase their focus on their previous study and they are working hard in the home,

According to my side, it's crucial that he short term vocations are very useful for the students because due to this they are also attach with the study and also, they take a few rests at home. Its help them in their growth and also, they will take parts in various competitions.

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 holidays and the arguments for shorter breaks, meeting the criteria for a partial and relevant coverage of the prompt. However, some ideas remain under-developed or unclear. For instance, the discussion on family tours and sports benefits is introduced but not fully expanded with strong examples, and the counter-argument regarding forgetting academic concepts lacks deeper elaboration. The position is discernible, but the overall development of ideas is limited, shifting quickly between points without fully exploring their implications, which reflects a typical mid-level task response performance.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

There is a coherent overall arrangement to the essay, divided into clear paragraphs that separate the advantages of long holidays, the counter-arguments for shorter breaks, and a concluding personal opinion. Cohesive devices are employed, such as 'On one hand' and 'On the other hand', which helps signal the shifts in perspective. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty, and referencing is not always completely clear due to run-on sentences and punctuation lapses. Paragraphing is present and used sufficiently to structure the text, but the internal logical flow between sentences occasionally stumbles, preventing a smoother progression of ideas.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

The vocabulary used represents a limited but minimally adequate range for the task. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary items, such as 'recreational places', 'academic burden', and 'discipline', but these are accompanied by noticeable errors in word choice, collocation, and form—such as writing 'initial and subordinate' instead of 'primary and secondary schools', 'vocations' instead of 'vacations', and 'draw bags' instead of 'drawbacks'. While communication is generally maintained despite these errors, the frequent lexical inaccuracies restrict the precision and flexibility of the writing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer demonstrates a limited range of structures, relying on a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, though attempts at complex sentences are frequently faulty. There are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('habits are change'), incorrect prepositions ('in holidays', 'in the home'), and run-on sentences lacking proper punctuation. These errors require some effort from the reader to decode the intended meaning, placing the grammatical control firmly within the mid-range description.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.