Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-04
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, The schools remain close for two months in summer as summer vacations. As the heat of the season is on its peak, People usually plan to either make a trip to the cooler areas or they mostly enjoy indoor activities. I remember my family always planned to visit and stay for a month or so at my grandparents home.
The long vacation is like a break from the tough schedule of schools and gives an opportunity to explore, make adventures and to enjoy after a long year. It is a great time to enjoy your own personal life and align yourself with your goals about your future. You can relax and enjoy for some time and then even focus on some extra curricular activities, or you can even work on something that you don't get to do along with school.
But on the other hand, shorter holidays would be a good idea as well, Because instead of being completely free, the school could offer mandatory summer camps with organised extra curricular and sports activities. This could help the students experience more adventures as a group and would build teamwork as an important skill in their life. I, myself had opted for a summer camp back in 2013, where i had to work in a KFC branch and we understood the other side of the famous franchise. I got to know how the daily branch operated and how everybody was in perfect sync so the process stays consistant and fast.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 6.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 6.0 |
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, drawing on personal examples such as staying with grandparents and working at a KFC. However, the ideas are somewhat unevenly developed. For instance, the discussion on the value of long holidays mentions relaxing and extracurricular activities, but these points remain brief and rely on general statements rather than extended support. Similarly, the personal anecdote about the summer camp is engaging but occupies space that could have been used to further general arguments regarding shorter breaks. To reach a higher level, the writer needs to fully extend and support all main points with broader societal implications or clearer examples.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear division into logical paragraphs, each tackling a different aspect of the prompt. The progression of ideas is generally easy to follow, moving from the context of long holidays to their benefits, and finally to the counter-argument for shorter breaks. However, cohesion is at times mechanical or somewhat faulty. For instance, transitioning between paragraphs could be smoother, and referencing is occasionally slightly loose, such as the sudden shift into the personal KFC anecdote in the final paragraph. Paragraphing is used adequately, but clearer logical links between sentences would elevate the organizational quality.
Lexical Resource: Band 6.0
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, demonstrating an attempt to incorporate less common items and personal phrasing like 'tough schedule', 'align yourself with your goals', and 'in perfect sync'. There is a sufficient range to communicate ideas effectively, though some lexical choices and collocations show slight inaccuracy or awkwardness, such as 'make adventures' instead of 'have adventures' or 'go on adventures', and capitalization errors like 'People' and 'Because' mid-sentence. Spelling and word choice errors do not impede communication, but to achieve a higher score, the writer must demonstrate greater precision and natural collocation when attempting more sophisticated vocabulary.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating clauses introduced by words like 'As', 'while', and 'where'. However, control over grammar and punctuation is inconsistent, with some frequent errors and awkward structures. Examples include capitalization issues ('The schools remain close', 'i had to work'), tense shifts, and minor punctuation slips. Complex structures are often slightly faulty, which places the writing at this level. To improve, the writer should focus on reducing basic mechanical errors, ensuring accurate subject-verb agreement, and polishing the execution of complex sentence patterns to make the majority of sentences error-free.
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