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)

In almost all parts of world, the schools are kept closed for two or months in summer holidays. These long breaks have both positive as well as negative impacts on the students. The idealogies behind these breaks are to provide a certain period of time for the students to rest and to safegaurd them from the effects of high temperatures.

The long school holidays helps the students to learn different skills other than academics. Various summer camps are also organized specially in these holidays to teach different life skills. Therefore this ensures overall growth of the child in all aspects. These holiday period also encourages children to play different sports, that allows them to test their abilities in sports.

But a longer period of holidays, reduces the importance of studies from student's life. The students tend to get distracted from their academics causing reduction in their grades. The students often take a long period of time to get on track of their daily study habits. These Longer holidays puts stress and burden on parents, as they need to keep a track on their children's studies. Therefore a shorter school holidays help to deal with all these disadvantages. The period of holidays should be precisely set in order, to ensure sufficient the gap between studies. In my opinion shorter holidays must be standarized for both primary and secondary students as these helps students to relieve study stresses and also ensures their connect to daily study habits.

Hence, the shorter holidays provides a common ground between the advantages and disadvantages of longer school holidays. This also involves the necessities of summer holidays.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses both questions and presents a clear preference for shorter holidays, so the main task is covered. The value of longer breaks is explained through rest, protection from high temperatures, summer camps, and opportunities to develop skills and play sports. The case for shorter holidays is also relevant: you explain that students may lose study habits and that parents face extra responsibility. However, several points are asserted rather than developed. For example, the claim that longer holidays reduce the importance of studies would be stronger with a specific explanation or example of how learning is affected. The conclusion’s “common ground” is not fully explained, and the opening refers to both positive and negative impacts without clearly framing the two sides of the question.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay has a clear overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph on the benefits of long holidays, a paragraph arguing for shorter breaks, and a conclusion. Ideas generally progress in a logical order, and linking expressions such as “Therefore,” “But,” and “Hence” help show relationships between points. This meets the lower-band expectations securely and shows some features of stronger organisation. However, cohesion is occasionally mechanical, with several sentences beginning “The students” or “These,” and some references are unclear. For instance, “These holiday period” does not clearly connect grammatically to the preceding idea, while the final reference to “the necessities of summer holidays” is vague. Use more varied transitions and make the links between each claim and its consequence explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of vocabulary for the topic, including “summer camps,” “life skills,” “overall growth,” “study habits,” and “burden on parents.” These choices communicate the main ideas, and some phrases show an attempt to express more specific concepts. However, several word-choice, collocation, and spelling problems make the language less natural and precise. Examples include “idealogies behind these breaks,” “safegaurd them,” “test their abilities in sports,” and “standardized” in the sense of setting holiday length. Repetition of “students,” “holidays,” and “studies” also limits flexibility. Aim for accurate, natural combinations such as “the rationale for the break,” “protect them from,” and “maintain a consistent study routine.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response includes both simple sentences and attempts at more complex structures, such as “The students tend to get distracted from their academics causing reduction in their grades.” Most ideas remain understandable, but some grammatical errors recur in agreement, articles, plurals, and sentence construction. For example, “The long school holidays helps” should use a plural verb, while “a shorter school holidays” combines a singular article with a plural noun. In “as these helps students,” the verb does not agree with its subject. The sentence “The period of holidays should be precisely set in order, to ensure sufficient the gap between studies” is also structurally unclear. Check subject–verb agreement and article use, and revise sentences whose intended relationship between clauses is difficult to follow.

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