Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

It is undeniable that most of the countries around the world have rules to offer vacation for couple of months during summer season, in primary and secondary schools. This essay will discuss the importance of long and shorter vacation in schools.

On the one hand, long holiday may allow students to spend time with family members. This is because during school time, children often struggle with a huge responsibilities of homework, which they do after school hours, and significant amount of time of their day, they spend in school. Consequently, they find it difficult to spend much time with their families. If learners will have long holiday, they can allocate that time to go on vacation and meet with family members. In addition, studying what is between books is not an ideal practice thesedays. Because learning other skills which are not thaught in school can be helpful for overall development of childerns. Such skills they could learn during holiday time.

Those who criticise the idea of long school holidays argue that it distract students focus from study. As they spend long period of time away from study, their interest might changed towards school. For example, young people who left school take some break to explore other things around them, hardly rejoin school because they found comfort there, which can destroy their future career. Another argument is that school curricullam often have lengthy structure, which may be completed with short vacation. If students have shorter school vacation, their school day will increase, allowing lenghty structure more days to finished.

To conclude, summer holiday adds a lot of value in learners lives as it helps them to spend crucial time with family members and they can utilize it to acquire other skills, despite having these benefits critics argued that shorter vacation should be prioritized as it helps to maintain students focus on study and lenghty course can be finished on time.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses both questions and presents a clear overall contrast: long holidays give children time with family and opportunities to develop skills, while shorter breaks may help maintain study habits and complete the curriculum. These are relevant ideas, and the family-time point is supported with an explanation. However, some arguments are less fully developed. The claim that students who take a break from school “hardly rejoin” is broad and not clearly tied to ordinary summer holidays; it would be stronger with a realistic example or explanation of how a shorter break prevents learning loss. The curriculum point also needs clarification, since shorter holidays do not necessarily mean longer school days. Develop these points more precisely to make the response more complete and convincing.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay has a coherent overall arrangement: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the benefits and arguments for shorter holidays, and a conclusion that returns to both sides. Signposting such as “On the one hand,” “In addition,” and “To conclude” helps readers follow the progression. This organisation is effective, and the main ideas are generally connected. To make the flow more natural, reduce reliance on formulaic transitions and strengthen links between claims and their explanations. For example, the move from family time to learning other skills could be connected by explaining how holidays provide time for both. The reference “Those who criticise the idea” is understandable, but a more direct transition would make the shift to the opposing arguments smoother.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The response uses enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate its main points, including “overall development,” “curriculum,” “allocate,” and “prioritized.” It also attempts some less common expressions, showing a willingness to vary word choice. However, inaccurate spelling and collocation are noticeable and sometimes make phrases less natural, as in “huge responsibilities,” “thaught,” “curricullam,” and “lenghty structure.” Several expressions are also imprecise: “what is between books” does not clearly convey learning beyond academic subjects, and “interest might changed towards school” is difficult to interpret. Aim for accurate, natural combinations and check spelling carefully. More precise vocabulary for learning continuity and extracurricular development would strengthen the argument.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

There is a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including clauses introduced by “because,” “which,” and “as.” Most of the message remains understandable, and the writer attempts to explain cause and effect. However, some grammatical errors recur in verb forms, agreement, articles, and sentence construction. For example, “If learners will have long holiday” needs a more suitable conditional form, while “their interest might changed” has an incorrect verb form. In “it distract students focus,” the subject–verb agreement and possessive construction are faulty. The sentence beginning “In addition, studying…” is also fragmented by the following “Because” clause. Review conditional patterns, agreement, and sentence boundaries, while continuing to use complex structures.

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