Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

In recent years, primary and secondary schools close for two months or more in the summer holidays in most countries. In my opinion, longer school summer holidays is the best time for a student to enjoy.

Longer summer holidays is beneficial for students in primary and secondary schools. It is a matter of everyday observation that longer school holidays provide students time to relax. To illustrate, when student go back to the school after a long time of rest and free time, they do quality work with productive ideas. Moreover, longer holidays provides time for students to lookover to there syllabus and clear the remaining concepts. Furthermore, longer summer breaks can protect students from heatwave and other sun diseases. Therefore, summer holidays is so valuable for students who love to enjoy, learn and relax.

In contrast, some people believe that shorter summer holidays are more favourable for students. As we all know, nowadays childern have increased their screen time during their summer breaks. For instance, childern only play videogames instead of play physical games such as, football or cricket so in short summer break they will have less time to do these activities. In addition, shorter summer breaks also make students enthusiastic and energetic. to substantiate my point, if students stay at home for long time they usually get lazy and lethargic. Hence, shorter summer breaks makes students more responsible and adaptible.

In the view of the above discussion, it can be concluded that longer summer breaks and shorter summer breaks both have there own benefits for students and both provides equal perks to the learning children.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions by explaining the benefits of longer holidays—rest, time to review schoolwork, and protection from hot weather—and by presenting reasons for shorter breaks, including reduced screen time and less idleness. Your final sentence also gives a position, but saying both options have “equal perks” does not clearly resolve which arguments you find more persuasive. Several points remain general: for example, the claim that rested students “do quality work with productive ideas” would be stronger with a specific explanation or example. The discussion therefore covers the task, but the ideas are limited and not consistently developed. To strengthen it, explain the consequences of each benefit and make your overall view clearer.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, one paragraph for each side, and a conclusion. Connectors such as “Moreover,” “In contrast,” and “Therefore” help signal relationships between ideas. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes mechanical, with several points simply added rather than developed, and the conclusion repeats the comparison without drawing the argument together. Some links are unclear—for instance, the example about children playing video games does not fully explain why a shorter break would lead to more physical activity. Improve cohesion by making each paragraph follow a clear point–explanation–example sequence, and use references such as “this benefit” or “this concern” to connect sentences more precisely.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “screen time,” “productive,” “lethargic,” and “enthusiastic,” and these choices help communicate the main ideas. However, the range is limited and several expressions are inaccurate or awkward, such as “lookover to there syllabus,” “sun diseases,” and “equal perks to the learning children.” Spelling errors, including “childern” and “adaptible,” also reduce accuracy. Some wording is repetitive, particularly “longer summer holidays” and “shorter summer breaks.” Aim for more precise collocations and vary repeated phrases; for example, describe students as reviewing course material or avoiding heat-related illness. Proofreading spelling and choosing natural word combinations would make your meaning clearer.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mixture of simple and longer sentences, using clauses introduced by “when,” “if,” and “so,” as well as linking adverbs. However, errors occur frequently in basic sentence patterns and agreement, and some complex attempts are faulty. Examples include “longer school summer holidays is,” “when student go back,” and “shorter summer breaks makes.” Articles and plurals are also inconsistent, as in “for long time” and “when student.” Capitalisation and punctuation need attention, particularly the lowercase start in “to substantiate my point” and the comma in “such as, football.” Practise checking subject–verb agreement, singular and plural nouns, and sentence boundaries, then build longer sentences from accurate basic clauses.

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