Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-13

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 today's world, education a crucial role for shapping individuals lives and society. Education help people to live a better life. In many parts of the world, some schools, colleges and universities are closed for two months during summar. Some people believe that education should take short summar break so students don't waste their time in other activities, while other argue that education systems should closed for two months, so children can spend time with their family and on other activites.

There are good reasons that are in favour of taking long breaks. students need a long term break after months of studying. They can feel tired beacuse of exams, regular classes and homeworks. After the long term breaks, students will caome back with new energy and ready to learn. They use this time period, for the physical activities. For example, they can go for outdoor activites such as playing football,hockey,circket or on their hobboies. It is not only beneficial for their body, but is also beneficial for their mental health. Critics also argue that long term vocation would helps students to make strong family bound, becuase they would stay with their family or go for family trip. For instance, they can gonna their grandparents home durning vocation.

On the other hand, shorter breaks whould help students to continues their studying. Long-term sometimes cause students to forget about some information. teacher spends less time to review their lesson when schools are reopened. For example, students can remember the Mathematical formulas, if they practiced regularly. Furthermore, some parents, argue that their are busy in their business or in their job. so, don't have much to stay home with their children for two months.

In conclusion, although short term breaks cause some problems like parents time management or forget some information. but long term holidays are beneficial as students can visit their grandparents home, make stronger family bond and can go with family trip. In addition, they advantages of the tong term holidays are outweigh than its drawbacks.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses both questions: it explains the value of longer holidays through rest, physical activity and family time, then presents reasons for shorter breaks, including retaining information and helping working parents. These points are relevant, and examples such as playing sports and visiting grandparents make the discussion more concrete. However, the ideas are only partly developed. The argument about parents’ schedules is brief, and the claim that students forget information would be stronger with a clearer explanation of how shorter breaks prevent this. Your overall preference is apparent in the conclusion, but the position could be stated more clearly and consistently from the introduction onward. Develop each main point with a fuller explanation or example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two sides, and a conclusion. The contrast marker “On the other hand” helps signal the shift to shorter holidays, and examples generally follow the points they illustrate. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes uneven, and links can feel mechanical or unclear. For instance, “Critics also argue” does not clearly identify who the critics are, while the conclusion’s opening sentence combines drawbacks and benefits in a confusing way. Some ideas are repeated, particularly the references to family trips and grandparents. Use clearer topic sentences, connect each explanation directly to its main point, and make the conclusion summarise the comparison more logically.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use a basic range of relevant vocabulary, including “mental health,” “physical activities,” “regular classes,” and “family bond,” so the main ideas are usually understandable. There are also attempts to discuss the topic with phrases such as “long-term break” and “review their lesson.” However, vocabulary is limited and several inaccurate word choices, collocations and spelling errors make the writing less clear or natural. Examples include “summar” for “summer,” “vocation” for “vacation,” “hobboies,” and “strong family bound.” Some phrases, such as “education systems should closed,” also show difficulty selecting the appropriate form. Build a reliable set of topic vocabulary and check spelling and collocations before submitting.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple and more complex sentences, including a contrast structure with “although” and a reason clause beginning “because.” However, the range is limited, and errors occur frequently in basic sentence patterns, verb forms, agreement and articles. For example, “education a crucial role” is missing a verb, “Education help people” has incorrect subject–verb agreement, and “students to continues their studying” has an incorrect verb pattern. Other sentences, such as “teacher spends less time to review their lesson,” contain problems with articles and number agreement. These errors sometimes make the reader pause to interpret the meaning. Practise accurate simple sentences first, then add subordinate clauses while checking each verb and noun phrase.

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