Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-07

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)

Two months or more than it giving summer holidays for school is a good thing and it is ofcourse necessary. The students feel that they are growing and going into a new and higher class than before and feels excited for it. The reasons for having summer holidays will shed light in following essay.

To begin with, in almost of the countries primary and secondary both the kind of schools have minimum two monts of summer holidays which is absolutly important because students gets a break from continues education although they have holiday on weekend but definately a long break is somehow needed.The value of having a long school holidays is students come back to school with fresh minds, new thoughts and feeling of growing up and getting promoted into the higher class than the before one.

Some parents argue that having long vacation is not good because may be they think that childrens will be needed to give more attention and also takes time look after them. So they think that expanded break is not necessary and will favour shorter duration of holidays. In adddition, shorter holidays may be more convinent for working parents, as the may find difficult to arrange childcare for several months. But in my view long summer holidays is very good to be appriciated. For example, many families use summer vacation to travel, visit relatives or explore new places. Moreover, students can develop new skills,such as learning a language, playing a sporta or taking part in creativity activities.

In conclusion, although shorter school holidays can help students maintain their academic progress and make life easier for parents. I believe that long holidays are more beneficial overall.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both questions and give a clear overall view: you consider the benefits of long holidays and explain why some parents favour shorter ones, before concluding that longer breaks are more beneficial. Relevant support includes students returning with “fresh minds” and families using the vacation to travel or develop skills. However, the value of long holidays is explained mainly through general claims, and the shorter-holiday argument focuses largely on childcare; the academic benefit of shorter breaks is only briefly mentioned in the conclusion. Develop these points with clearer cause-and-effect reasoning or a specific example. This would make the response more balanced and fully developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two sides, and a conclusion. Ideas generally follow a sensible order, and signposts such as “To begin with,” “In addition,” and “In conclusion” help the reader follow the discussion. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes uneven: the opening paragraph introduces students’ excitement about moving up a class, but this point is not clearly connected to the value of a long break. Some linking is mechanical, and the long paragraph about shorter holidays combines parents’ concerns with several benefits of summer. Use clearer topic sentences and divide or sequence supporting points so each paragraph develops one main idea.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “fresh minds,” “childcare,” “academic progress,” and “develop new skills.” These choices help communicate the main ideas, but the range is limited and several word-choice or spelling errors reduce precision, such as “continues education,” “expanded break,” “convinent,” and “creativity activities.” Some phrases are also unnatural, including “the higher class than the before one” and “long holidays is very good to be appriciated.” Aim for accurate collocations and forms rather than adding more difficult words. For example, describe students as returning “refreshed,” and refer to “creative activities” or “extracurricular activities.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a concession in the conclusion and a reason clause beginning “because.” Meaning is usually recoverable, but errors in agreement, articles, verb forms, and sentence construction occur across the response. For example, “students gets a break” should use a plural verb, while “students come back to school with fresh minds” needs a clearer grammatical link to the preceding definition of the holidays. The opening sentence is also difficult to parse, and the conclusion begins with “although” but is not joined correctly to the main clause. Practise building complete sentences with clear subjects and verbs, and check agreement and punctuation when combining clauses.

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