Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

In the current societal landscape, the tenure of summer school holidays is addressed among diverse amount of population. It is contended that many schools usually close for two or more than two months during summer holidays. From my perspective, the school holidays should not extend 1 or 2 months. This essay will discuss both views: the value of long holidays, and arguments on short holidays respectively.

On the one hand, I believe that short holidays are more likely to be productive. Parents often indulge their children in extracurricular activities. To illustrate, many students prefer to learn karate, which eventually makes them strong. Moreover, it is also crucial for self-defense. Furthermore, short vacation helps them unwind, and makes them feel much more relaxed after their busy routine. For instance, many children often spend their holidays in the mountains, or often visit their friends and relatives. Consequently, they are less likely to undergo stress or anxiety following their tough schedule.

On the other hand, while holidays greater than two months can be effective if utilized efficiently, i believe schools should not provide more than two months of vacation. However, if students use these days more productively, they are more likely to get benefits. As illustrated, a majority of young students usually joins a course, or any software center to learn additional computer skills. In this way, they could excel in the modern technological world. In contrast, many students either gets diverted from their academics, or loosen their interests in study during longer vacation. Hence, they become lazy. For example, primary school children are more likely to disremember or find it challenging to solve mathematical calculations.

In conclusion, although long holidays can be productive, schools should only give a maximum of two months summer break.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task, discussing both the value of long school holidays and arguments in favour of shorter ones, maintaining a clear position throughout. However, some ideas are under-developed or lack sufficient extension. For instance, the arguments regarding karate and self-defense under the short holidays section are somewhat tangential to the core educational and psychological benefits of school breaks, reflecting a tendency to over-generalise or lean on superficial examples rather than exploring deeper social or academic implications. To reach a higher level, the ideas need to be more fully elaborated with more robust supporting arguments and relevant examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear logical progression, beginning with an introduction, followed by body paragraphs addressing both sides of the prompt, and concluding appropriately. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate distinct ideas. Nevertheless, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty, such as the repetitive use of transitions like 'Furthermore', 'Moreover', and 'Consequently', and referencing is not always entirely clear or seamless. To achieve a higher standard, the writer should employ a wider, more flexible variety of cohesive devices organically and ensure that the links between sentences and paragraphs guide the reader more smoothly through the argumentation.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, demonstrating an attempt to incorporate less common lexical items such as 'extracurricular activities', 'unwind', and 'technological world'. However, there are noticeable word-choice, collocation, and word-form errors that prevent precision, such as 'diverse amount of population' instead of 'a diverse segment of the population', 'should not extend 1 or 2 months' instead of 'exceed', 'joins a course' rather than 'enrolls in a course', 'loosen their interests' instead of 'lose interest', and 'disremember' instead of 'forget'. These inaccuracies do not impede overall communication, but to progress further, the writer needs to demonstrate more precise word choice and better control over collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The writing demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing structures such as conditional clauses ('if utilized efficiently') and relative clauses. There are some grammatical errors and awkward phrasing, including subject-verb agreement issues ('many students either gets', 'loosen'), article omissions ('during longer vacation' instead of 'vacations'), and prepositional slips. Punctuation is generally acceptable, and while these grammatical errors persist, they rarely impede communication. To move to a higher band, the writer should increase the frequency of error-free complex sentences and refine structural control across more sophisticated syntactic patterns.

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

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