Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-08

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, primary and secondary schools close for a couple of months or more in summer vacations. Longer summer holidays give enough time to students to relax and learn a new skill. However, some people believe that long school holidays make students lazy and they must be shorter.

Some people believe that students can utililze long summer holidays to learn a new skill, that requires a significant amount of time. Usually kids are too busy in their studies, due to which they don't have enough time to build a new skill. Summer holidays give them a chance to learn any useful skill. Moreover, kids can relax in these holidays. They can visit their friends and relatives and spend as much time as they want with them. For example, kids can visit amusement parks during their holidays and do things that require a significant amount of time.

On the other hand, some people believe that these long holidays waste precious time of the students. Although holidays provide enough time to do productive activities, most of the students don't utilize this time in doing anything beneficial. They believe that schools should not give long holidays to students, instead they should shorten the holidays and teach new skills to the students. For exapmle, schools should arrange summer camps to educate students about financial literacy.

In conclusion, longer summer vacations can be beneficial because students can enjoy in their spare time and do productive tasks. While some people argue that students are not mature enough to utilize this time in beneficial activites and schools should arrange classes for students to teach useful skills.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both questions and maintain a clear overall position: long holidays allow students to rest and develop skills, while shorter breaks could help schools provide structured learning. The examples of visiting relatives and attending financial-literacy camps are relevant. However, some points are asserted rather than fully explained. For instance, you say students are often too busy to build a skill, but do not show how a longer break enables meaningful progress; similarly, the claim that most students do nothing beneficial would benefit from support or qualification. The value of rest is mentioned, but its benefits are not explored. Develop each main idea with a clear explanation and a specific example to make the response more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, one paragraph for the benefits of long holidays, one for the case for shorter holidays, and a conclusion. The contrast signalled by “On the other hand” helps readers follow the shift in viewpoint, and examples are placed alongside the relevant claims. This meets the lower-band expectation of coherent organisation and shows some stronger control through paragraphing and progression. To make the flow more consistently smooth, avoid repeating the same ideas and wording across the introduction and conclusion, and make the relationship between claims clearer. In the final paragraph, “While some people argue…” is left as a dependent clause rather than being joined smoothly to the preceding sentence, which weakens the conclusion’s cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough vocabulary to discuss the topic, including “productive activities,” “financial literacy,” and “significant amount of time.” These choices communicate the main ideas, and the response includes some topic-specific language. However, the range is limited by repeated words such as “students,” “holidays,” and “useful,” while several choices or spellings are inaccurate: “utililze,” “exapmle,” and “activites.” Some phrasing is also unnatural, such as “enjoy in their spare time” and “learn a new skill, that requires,” where the vocabulary and phrasing do not fit smoothly. Aim for more precise alternatives and check spelling carefully; varied, natural collocations would make the argument clearer and more fluent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex forms, including subordinate clauses with “Although” and “because,” and most sentences remain understandable. There are some grammatical errors, but they rarely prevent the reader from following your meaning. For example, “a new skill, that requires” has an unnecessary comma before the defining clause, and “While some people argue…” is a sentence fragment because it lacks a main clause. The sentence beginning “They believe that schools should not give long holidays… instead they should shorten…” also needs clearer punctuation or a conjunction between its contrasting clauses. Continue practising sentence boundaries and clause structure, while retaining the complex forms you already attempt.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.