Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-11

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)

it is often debate primary and secondary schools close for long period on account of summer holidays or shorter holidays who has more value. Long holidays provide space to children to get invlove other activities, which help them in their physical and mental health.Whereas, shorter holidays help them to be more discipline with their studies. This essay will discuss both aspects.

On the one hand, Long summer break helps student to take the break from schools and enjoy thier time with family and friends. Children also explore other activities and their hobbies and interests which help them to have versatile experience in different domains. for example, students get enroll in summer schools and participant in painting classes, cooking classes and swimming classes in this way they learn new skill also its benefiical for their mental and physical health

On the other hand, shorter school holidays keep track on children as most of student forgot the studies and then struggle in studies. Futhermore, tshort holiday helps working parents to manage the work-life balance as well. For instance, students who has short holiday from school are able to grab the studies immediately and feel on track. Working parents are also value the shorter school holidays as they are able to manage things easily and not putting more effort to studying the children.

In conclusion, Long summer holidays provide value to children to learn and explore their hobbies as it is neccessary for their physical and mental health. Moreover, shorter school holidays help children to be on track and learn self-discipline and be active participant in school.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions by explaining that long holidays allow children to pursue hobbies and support their wellbeing, while shorter breaks may help them retain study routines and assist working parents. This gives the response relevant coverage, but the ideas remain general and are not consistently explained. For example, you mention summer classes in painting, cooking and swimming, yet do not show how these activities benefit children beyond a brief reference to health. The point about parents is also introduced but not clearly developed. Your conclusion restates the two sides rather than clarifying which benefits you consider most significant. To strengthen the response, explain each main claim with a specific consequence or example and make your overall position clearer.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two arguments, and a conclusion. The signposts “On the one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “In conclusion” make the progression easy to follow, and the ideas generally appear in a logical order. This meets the requirements for coherent organisation, although some connections are mechanical or unclear. For instance, “Whereas” at the end of the introduction does not form a complete contrast, and the sentence about working parents shifts abruptly from children’s study habits. Some references, such as “in this way,” have an unclear link to the preceding list. Use linking phrases more selectively and make the relationship between each example and its main point explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “summer break,” “hobbies and interests,” “work-life balance,” and “self-discipline.” There are also attempts to use more specific expressions, such as “versatile experience” and “on track.” However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, sometimes making the meaning less natural: “get involve other activities,” “participant in painting classes,” and “grab the studies” are examples. Spelling errors such as “thier,” “benefiical,” and “neccessary” also reduce accuracy. Build a bank of natural collocations for education and holidays, and check spelling and word forms during proofreading.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including clauses with “which” and “as,” and the overall meaning is usually recoverable. However, the range is limited, and errors occur frequently in basic sentence construction, agreement, articles and verb forms. For example, “it is often debate” lacks a correct verb pattern, while “most of student forgot” and “students who has” show problems with plural agreement. The sentence beginning “for example” also runs on without clear punctuation, and “shorter school holidays help children to be on track and learn self-discipline and be active participant” has an incomplete parallel structure and article error. Practise accurate sentence patterns first, then proofread for agreement, articles and sentence boundaries.

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