Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-15

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)

There has long been debate over wether lengthy summer holidays are beneficial for students. While long holidays provide valuable opportunities to rest and personal development, many people argue that shorter breaks would provide academic improvement and reduce reduce wasted time on repeating previous materials. This essay will discuss both perspectives before concluding that a balanced approach is the most beneficial.

Long vacations allow children to recover from academic stress. They provide social, psychological and developmetal benefits. Continuous examinations, homework and extracurricular commitments lead to stress and burnout. Prolonged breaks help students to clear minds, pursue hobbies and learn life skills that are often neglected in the term time. For example, children can spend holidays learning a musical instrument, particibating in sports camps or volunteering with their communities. Such activities foster creativity, independance and self-confidence, qualities that could not often be cultivated in traditional learning process.

On the other hand, supporters of shorter summer holidays argue that extended breaks may lead to interruption in learning process. Research coninuously support that students may forget perviously acquired knowledge during long holidays. Although shorter summer holidays do not allow long vacations, they would save more time to be devoted to the next academic year, allowing teachers to introduce new lessons instead of reviewing old materials.

In conclusion, long holidays provide precious chances for students to rest and gain essential life skills. While shorter breaks provid more strong academic performance. Combining short summer vacations with regular breaks would be more beneficial.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses both questions and gives a clear overall view: long holidays support rest and personal development, while shorter ones may help students retain learning and make more time for new material. The examples of hobbies, sports camps and volunteering make the benefits of long breaks more concrete. However, the case for shorter holidays is less fully explained: the claim that students forget knowledge is brief, and the essay does not explore other possible advantages or provide a specific example. The conclusion also introduces a balanced approach without explaining how it would work. The response is four words below the required minimum, so it does not meet the task’s length requirement. Develop the shorter-holiday argument and clarify the proposed balance.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay has a clear overall structure, with an introduction, separate paragraphs for each perspective and a conclusion. The progression is easy to follow, and signposts such as “On the other hand” and “In conclusion” help readers recognise the shifts in argument. This coherent organisation is a strength. To make the linking more flexible and precise, avoid relying mainly on standard transition phrases and connect claims more explicitly. For example, the paragraph about shorter holidays moves from students forgetting knowledge to teachers having more time for new lessons, but the relationship between these points could be explained. The final sentence also feels abrupt after the balanced position in the introduction; briefly showing how regular breaks could preserve both rest and learning would create a more complete ending.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The response uses a relevant range of vocabulary, including “academic stress,” “burnout,” “life skills,” “interruption in learning” and “self-confidence.” These choices communicate the main ideas and show attempts to use topic-specific language. However, several spelling and word-choice errors reduce accuracy, including “wether,” “developmetal,” “particibating,” “independance” and “perviously.” Some phrases are also awkward or imprecise, such as “clear minds,” “in the term time” and “provide more strong academic performance.” These errors do not prevent understanding, but they limit the control and naturalness of the vocabulary. Proofread spelling carefully and learn common collocations for education and holidays; for instance, use “clear their minds” and “improve academic performance.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

There is a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, and several sentences are controlled well, such as “Although shorter summer holidays do not allow long vacations, they would save more time to be devoted to the next academic year.” The opening also uses a subordinate clause effectively. Some grammatical errors remain, but they rarely prevent the reader from understanding the argument. For example, “qualities that could not often be cultivated in traditional learning process” needs an article and a more suitable construction, while “While shorter breaks provid more strong academic performance” is an incomplete sentence and has an unclear comparative structure. The phrase “reduce reduce” also shows a proofreading lapse. Review articles, sentence completeness and comparative forms, then check each sentence for a clear subject and main verb.

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