Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-14

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)

School holidays play a crucial role in students academic and personal development. While long summer breaks allow them to relax and pursue pesonal taaks, shorter holidays help learners to maintain academic progress and support working parents. This essay will discuss the benifits of both approaches.

To begin with, one major benifit of long holidays is that they allow students to recover from academic stress. After month of academic classes and preparing for exams, making the students mentally and physically ill so childrens need a quality of time to charge their battries. For example, students how spend months for preparing for exams can use summer break to relax, take the long sleed that help them to reduce an anxiety of exams. Therefore, pupil spends the quality time with their families, take part in outdoor activities with friends and travel the place they like to visit. These experiences can imporve their well-being and gain the practical skills that doesnot teach in the schools.

On the other hand, shorter holidays can help learners to maintain their academic performance. when children spend several months away from classrooms, forget more important information and require additional time to review their previous course. For instance, students who have longer holidays may struggle to remember the mathematical concepts when they back to class. As a result, short break allows the pupils to remain attached to their studies so the results cannot disrupt.

In conclusion, School holidays are an important part of the education system, as they provide students with a break from their academic responsibilities. Although, long holidays help students to release their academic stress, shoorter holdyas help them to remain consistent with studies.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions and present a relevant contrast: long breaks offer recovery and time for family or activities, while shorter breaks may help students retain learning. The examples about exam stress and forgetting mathematical concepts support these points. However, the value of long holidays is developed more fully than the arguments for shorter ones; the latter mainly focuses on revision and does not explain other possible benefits, such as maintaining routines or helping parents manage childcare. Some claims are also unclear, particularly “so the results cannot disrupt.” Your conclusion restates the contrast but does not add a clear, fully developed position. Develop each side with a more precise explanation and a specific example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two positions, and a conclusion. Signposting such as “To begin with,” “On the other hand,” and “In conclusion” makes the main direction easy to follow. Within paragraphs, however, some links are mechanical or unclear. For example, “After month of academic classes … making the students mentally and physically ill” is not smoothly connected, and “As a result” introduces a consequence that is difficult to interpret. The long-holiday paragraph also moves quickly from rest to family time, travel, and practical skills. Use clearer cause-and-effect links and organise each paragraph around one main benefit, explaining it before adding an example.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “academic stress,” “academic performance,” “outdoor activities,” and “practical skills.” These choices help communicate the main ideas, but the range is limited and several spelling errors are noticeable, including “pesonal,” “benifit,” “battries,” and “shoorter.” Some expressions are also unnatural or imprecise, such as “take the long sleed,” “a quality of time,” and “remain attached to their studies.” These choices sometimes make the intended meaning harder to understand. Build a more accurate range of collocations and check spelling carefully; for example, use “get enough sleep,” “spend quality time,” and “stay engaged with their studies.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including a contrast clause beginning “While long summer breaks…” and a conditional-style example about students returning to class. However, control is inconsistent, and errors in sentence structure, agreement, articles, and verb forms sometimes make meaning difficult to follow. For example, “After month of academic classes … making the students…” is a fragment, while “students how spend months” and “when they back to class” have faulty clause and verb forms. There are also agreement problems in “pupil spends” and “skills that doesnot teach.” Practise building complete sentences with a clear subject and finite verb, and check singular/plural agreement and articles. More accurate complex sentences would strengthen the response.

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