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 many countries, primary and high schools have longer period of summer vacations at least for two months or longer. This essay is mainly going to cover some benefits and drawbacks of longer summer holidays.

Closure of schools for more than two months is getting much common and typical with it's widespread in many countries.The main reason for that is the hot weather it becomes in many countries such as countries within asia. This leads to increasing high tempreture and warm the environment. This further makes the classrooms tempreture hot enough for students to get uncomfortable. As a counsequence, it makes difficult for students to concentrate better. Additionally, this also makes challenging for students to spend time outdoor. For example, in some schools students most likely spend their recess time in their playgorunds or when they have their games period. As a result, this can make students suffer intense weather conditions and sometimes can worsen their health too.

In contrast, it is often argued that summer breaks should be made shorter. Some people (mainly parents) favour less amount of school holidays for their children. One reason is for this is that, parents have noticed that their children start to lose the time they spend studying used to before. Nowadays, instead they spend their most of time using social media or involving in playing online games. This can negatively effect their studies. For example, most of the times students dont even finish their assesed summer break homework. Moreover, longer summer holidays can also disturb childrens routine as they often spend their their night waking up late rather than sleeping. As a result, longer holidays can make childrens learning progress inconsistent and can break their schedules.

In conclusion, while shorter summer holidays may help students maintain their academic progress, longer breaks can be more beneficial in countries with extremely hot weather, as they give students and teachers time to rest and avoid uncomfortable conditions.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both the value of long school holidays and the arguments for shorter breaks, meeting the basic requirements for this level. However, the development of ideas is uneven. For example, while the explanation regarding hot weather in regions such as Asia is relevant, the elaboration on classroom temperatures and outdoor play areas is somewhat repetitive. Similarly, the arguments for shorter breaks are introduced with general points about screen time and homework, but these points lack deeper extension or specific real-world examples. The position is clear throughout, but deeper elaboration of each point would be required to reach higher levels of task response.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear logical progression from an introduction to body paragraphs discussing contrasting views, followed by a summary conclusion. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate distinct themes, such as the environmental reasons for long breaks versus the academic arguments for shorter ones. Cohesive devices are employed, although some referencing and transitions feel a bit mechanical or repetitive, such as the frequent use of 'this' at the beginning of sentences. Overall, it successfully demonstrates the organizational features of the band while showing flashes of the clear logical progression characteristic of the next level.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully communicating the main ideas. However, the range is limited, and the student relies on repetitive phrasing and basic terms such as 'hot weather', 'spend time', and 'longer holidays'. There are noticeable lexical errors, awkward word choices, and collocation slips, such as writing 'longer period of summer vacations at least for two months or longer', 'with it's widespread' instead of 'its spread', 'increasing high tempreture', and 'assesed' instead of 'assessed'. Spelling errors like 'tempreture' and 'playgorunds' also occur. These errors reflect a restricted lexical repertoire and occasional inaccuracies that prevent the response from achieving a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt at varied structures with clauses introduced by 'while', 'because', and 'as a result'. However, there is a lack of sustained accuracy when complex structures are attempted. There are frequent grammar and punctuation slips throughout the text, including article misuse ('the hot weather it becomes'), prepositions in grammatical patterns ('involving in playing'), and subject-verb agreement or pluralization issues ('childrens routine' and 'childrens learning progress'). Fortunately, these errors rarely impede overall communication, allowing the reader to follow the argument despite the grammatical blemishes.

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