Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-06

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 nations, many educational institutes announced vacations due to the summer heat. It creates an intense debate among people. Some argue that long schools holidays are essential especially during summer months because extreme heat can affects students health, while some believe that it affects children's study. Both have merits. Taking both sides of the argument, I believe that long schools holidays has far more significant advantages.

On the one hand, I believe that summer vacations helpchlidren to learn additional talents at home. When children go to school, they don not have enough time for themselves. They need to their homework assignments and spend most of their time to complete their study tasks. During vacations, they set time table for study and in remaining time they spend on their hobbies such as they learned gardening, painting and dedicate their time to their family members.For instance, during my last summer vacations, I planed a trip with my family and it helps me to take a break from my exam stress. Furthermore, long vacations in summer months are necessary due to high temperature rising, consequently results into heat strock and poses serious health issues.

On the other hand, there are some negative consequences of longer holidays. Firstly, student mind distract from the study and failed their exams badly. They mostly waste their time on other activities such as playing all the time, playing games on their computer and mobile pones and by watching movies. They glued to their mobile screens and it also affects their eyesight and poses health problems. For instance, one of my cousins, during vacations, instead of studying, he waste his time on playing games on computer and he does not do any phusical activity and has gained a lot of weight.

In conclusion, although longer summer vacations has some serious drawbacks which shoud be addressed by setting proper timetable, I believe that its advantages are far more significant because it ensure safety of the students.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

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, while stating a clear personal position at the end of the introduction. Relevant ideas are presented, such as protection from high temperatures and opportunities for learning new hobbies on the one hand, and distraction from studies and lack of physical activity on the other. However, some ideas are more fully developed than others; for instance, the points about health issues due to heat and the negative impacts of excessive screen time are introduced but remain somewhat under-developed rather than being fully extended with deeper analysis. To reach a higher level, all main points require more substantial elaboration and fully realized supporting examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear progression of ideas across paragraphs, making the writer's stance easy to follow. Each main body paragraph has a clear focus, starting with signposting language such as 'On the one hand' and 'On the other hand'. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the two opposing viewpoints and the conclusion. However, cohesion is at times slightly mechanical or repetitive, and referencing is not always completely clear throughout. To move towards a higher standard, the writer could employ a wider and more flexible variety of cohesive devices and ensure smoother transitions between sentences rather than relying on standard formulaic connectors.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common lexical items such as 'intense debate', 'significant advantages', and 'physical activity'. However, there are noticeable limitations and inaccuracies in word choice, word form, and spelling. Examples of errors include 'helpchlidren', 'planed', 'heat strock', 'phusical', and 'shoud', alongside awkward phrasing like 'student mind distract from the study'. These errors do not seriously impede communication, but they reflect a struggle with precise lexical control and accurate spelling. To improve, the writer needs to expand their vocabulary range and pay closer attention to word forms and standard spelling conventions.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures such as conditional and concessive clauses. However, there are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation, including subject-verb agreement issues like 'long schools holidays has', tense inconsistencies such as 'they learned gardening', and missing prepositions or articles. While these errors rarely impede overall communication, they persist throughout the text and prevent the grammar from being classified as securely controlled. To achieve a higher score, the writer must increase their control over complex grammatical patterns, improve punctuation, and eliminate basic errors in agreement and tense formation.

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