Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

In many countries, schools provide students with two months or longer summer holidays. While these extensive breaks offer several personal and educational benefits, many people argue that shorter holidays would support better student learning and family time. This essay will examine both perspectives.

Longer holidays are significantly beneficial for students physical and mental health, as daily assignments, homework, and quizzes can cause mental exhaustion. It allows them to relax and reappear with better focus. Moreover,

longer holidays allow students to explore themselves, by engaging in different activities like book reading, art, sports, or even dancing. Permitting them to learn valuable skills beyond classroom. Furthermore, parents can plan trip to make family relationships strong and to spent quality time with there beloved ones.

Despite all the positive aspects, there are strong arguments in favour of shorter holidays. One of the main concern is, longer break may reduce students performance, as they can forget the content of difficult subjects like math or physics. As a result, teachers have to spent extra time to review the material of previous classes instead of latest material. Shorter breaks will benefit students academically and help them maintain proper discipline. Moreover, it would be difficult for working parents to provide child care during holidays. A shorter summer break combined with short holidays throughout the year will help students maintain balance between their academic performance and overall well-being.

In conclusion, longer holidays allows students to relax, strengthen family bonds, and learn new interest. However, short holidays reduce students learning loss and make life easier for working families. Therefore, a balanced school calendar and moderate breaks throughout the year, maybe the best solution.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response addresses both questions and maintains a clear overall position: it explains benefits of longer breaks, presents reasons for shorter ones, and concludes in favour of a balanced calendar. Relevant points include rest and mental health, opportunities to develop interests, learning loss, and childcare for working parents. This meets the core requirements well. To make the discussion more fully developed, explain the mechanisms or consequences behind some claims: for example, show how a particular activity builds skills, or give a concrete example of how a shorter break helps students retain material. The family-time point is also asserted rather than explored. The balanced conclusion is appropriate, but could be tied more explicitly to the arguments presented in the body.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay has a clear overall structure, with an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two sides, and a conclusion. Sequencing is generally logical, and signposts such as “Moreover,” “Despite all the positive aspects,” and “In conclusion” help readers follow the argument. This is a coherent arrangement, though some linking is mechanical and a few connections between ideas are not fully smooth. For instance, the sentence beginning “Permitting them to learn valuable skills” is detached from the preceding sentence, while the transition from students’ learning loss to working parents’ childcare needs could be made more explicit. Use complete, connected sentences and clarify how each supporting point relates to the paragraph’s main claim to strengthen progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The vocabulary is adequate for discussing the topic, and the response attempts some relevant phrases, including “mental exhaustion,” “maintain proper discipline,” “learning loss,” and “overall well-being.” These choices communicate the main ideas, but some word forms, collocations, and spelling errors reduce precision: “explore themselves” is unclear in this context, “plan trip” is not idiomatic, and “there beloved ones” contains a spelling error. Repetition of “longer holidays” and “shorter holidays” also limits flexibility. Aim for more natural topic-specific phrasing and check word forms and spelling. For example, describe students as “exploring their interests,” and refer to parents “planning a trip” or “spending quality time with their loved ones.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

There is a mix of simple and more complex sentence forms, including a contrast clause in the opening and a conditional structure in “A shorter summer break combined with short holidays throughout the year will help…”. Most ideas remain understandable, but some grammatical errors recur. Examples include subject–verb agreement in “Longer holidays allows” and “One of the main concern,” missing or incorrect articles in “plan trip,” and the incomplete construction “Permitting them to learn valuable skills beyond classroom.” The sentence “It allows them to relax” also has an unclear reference. Review agreement, articles, and sentence completeness, and make pronoun references explicit. Greater accuracy in these areas, alongside the existing range of structures, would make the argument easier to read.

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