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)

Primary and secondary schools long summer holidays has become an essential concern in modern society.This essay will address two key questions:what is the value of the long school holidays and the arguments in favour of shorter school holidays.

There are several reasons why primary and secondary educational institutions needs long summer holidays.The students of todays generation should not just confine in academic knowledge.They needs extra curriculum activities to openup and expand their minds.Practical skills gives a lot of new learning opportunities.When a student gets a longer period of summer holidays they can involve in many summer activities like summer camps or they can roam around into their cities and learn many new things.Another contributing factor is that they can get a lot of survival skills throughout this period.By having a longer holiday session they can get into different types of activities or can learn new skills like guiter,violin,swimming or anything that attracts them.Consequently they can get plenty of time to spend with their family.Many of them waits for the holidays so that they can visit to a new country.Explore different cultures and people which plays a huge role into their life.u

Turning to the second question,some people wants shorter period of holidays.One important reason can be the detachment from the education might trouble the students after the holidays.Some students gets too much distractions that is why they starts forgetting the previous learned lessons.This can be an alarming issue for the guardiens.However,I believe the students needs to learn about the outside worlds.The practical and new environment or skills can really enhance their academic performance

In conclusion,the long summer holidays are more valuable for the childern to learn new things apart from the academic books.Therefore,addressing these factors is essential dealing with the issue effectively.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions and give a clear overall view that long holidays benefit children by allowing activities, practical learning and family time. Examples such as summer camps, learning an instrument and visiting another country make the value of holidays relevant. However, the discussion of shorter holidays is much less developed: you mention students forgetting lessons after time away, but do not explain how shorter breaks might help learning or provide a supporting example. Some claims in the first section, such as gaining “survival skills,” also need clarification. To strengthen the response, develop both sides more evenly and make the relationship between each example and your main point explicit. The response contains 8 words copied from the task prompt, which were not counted in the length check.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, a paragraph on the benefits of long holidays, a paragraph on shorter holidays, and a conclusion. Phrases such as “Turning to the second question” and “In conclusion” help signal these stages. Overall, the reader can follow the main line of thought, but progression within paragraphs is sometimes uneven. The first body paragraph moves quickly from activities to survival skills, family time and travel without clearly grouping or linking these points. Some connections are also mechanical, and the final sentence of the shorter-holidays paragraph shifts back to your own view without fully explaining the contrast. Organise related benefits together and use clearer references and transitions to show how each point supports the argument.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of vocabulary, including “practical skills,” “summer camps,” “detachment from education” and “academic performance,” which helps communicate the topic. There are also attempts at less common expressions, such as “contributing factor” and “alarming issue.” However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unclear, including “extra curriculum activities,” “openup,” “roam around into their cities” and “previous learned lessons.” Spelling errors such as “guiter,” “guardiens” and “childern” are noticeable and reduce precision. Aim for natural, accurate combinations of words and check spelling carefully. For example, “extracurricular activities” and “previously learned material” would express your intended meanings more clearly.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including conditional and subordinate clauses, as in “When a student gets a longer period of summer holidays they can involve…” and “so that they can visit to a new country.” However, control is inconsistent, and frequent errors sometimes make the reader pause. Subject–verb agreement is a recurring issue: “institutions needs,” “They needs,” and “Many of them waits” should use matching verb forms. Other problems include missing or incorrect articles and prepositions, as well as sentence-boundary and punctuation errors, particularly where sentences run together after full stops. Practise checking each sentence for a clear subject and verb, and use commas and full stops to separate complete ideas. More accurate control of these patterns would make your meaning easier to follow.

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