Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-05

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 many countries, Teachers and main management of primary and secondary schools allocate two months or more months for summer vacation for children in their whole year study plan. There are many reasons for considering summer holidays such as children can rejuvunate themselves during vacation and also learn the importance of playing beside only studying.

The main value of long school holidays carry several advantages and some values also. some schools gives this holidays to prepare students for the exam. For example, In India most of the schools give summer vacations during April and May Month but during this time Schools prepare exam papers and students have to attend back to back exam after completing summer vacation. Basically, they give time for students to enjoy holidays and prepare for the upcoming summer examinations.

Another key reason behind this is that summers often comes with climate changes and heat waves so many schools lack the facilities like Air conditioners. For example, In India and other countries have severe heat waves and due to that they consider children health.

However, many parents and elders argue that schools and government should consider and give shorter period of summer holidays. As this might affect children studies as their minds get redirected from study to enjoyment also many concerns are from parents that they need to take care of children as parents also have some their other duties.

In my opinion, elementary schools should consider to give summer holidays which is needed for students overall development and they get refreshments and breaks from their studies. I believe, this is the good time for students to learn extra activity besides study

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both the value of long school holidays and the arguments for shorter ones, alongside a personal opinion. However, the development of these ideas remains somewhat limited and under-developed. For example, while you mention that children can rejuvenate and learn the importance of playing, this idea is not fully extended with specific explanations or robust consequences. Similarly, your explanation regarding climate changes and heat waves is introduced with examples from India, but the connection to the overall value of holidays or the perspective of schools is only partially clear. To reach a higher level, each main idea needs to be thoroughly explored, justified, and supported with well-explained elaboration throughout the essay.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

Your essay shows some organisation with clear paragraph breaks separating the introduction, the body points, the counter-argument, and your conclusion, providing a coherent overall arrangement. However, there is a lack of clear overall progression between certain ideas, and some cohesive devices are mechanical or slightly repetitive, such as the frequent reliance on 'For example' and 'Also'. Referencing and logical transitions between sentences could be smoother to guide the reader effortlessly through your arguments. To improve under this criterion, you should use a wider variety of sophisticated cohesive devices and ensure that each paragraph builds logically upon the previous one without abrupt shifts in topic.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You demonstrate a minimally adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully communicating your general thoughts on school holidays. You attempt some less common vocabulary items, such as 'rejuvunate', 'allocation', and 'elementary schools', but these are accompanied by noticeable errors in word form and spelling, like 'rejuvunate' instead of 'rejuvenate', and awkward phrasings such as 'summer summers often comes'. These lexical errors and limitations cause occasional difficulty or require the reader to slow down. To achieve a higher band, you need to expand your control of less common lexical items, ensure correct word forms, and pay closer attention to natural collocations and accurate spelling.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The text displays a limited range of grammatical structures, with frequent reliance on basic patterns alongside attempts at complex sentences that often contain errors. There are noticeable issues with subject-verb agreement, such as 'some schools gives' and 'summers often comes', as well as article usage and prepositions within grammatical patterns, like 'participate back to back exam' or 'consider to give'. These frequent grammatical errors cause some difficulty for the reader. To move up to the next band, you should aim to produce a higher proportion of error-free sentences by improving your control over complex sentence forms, verb tense consistency, and punctuation.

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

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