Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-16

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)

Holidays are the most essential part of curriculum in many country. Some of the countries, for instance Europe provide shorter winter holidays and longer summer holidays, However, in my country longer summer holidays are preferd then winter. In my perspective longer holidays are more beneficial then shorter one. In this essay I will support my opinion with many examples.

First of all, longer holidays are far better then the the shorter one because in longer holidays children get a lot of time to spend with their families. For example, there is a usual ritual in my country that children move to their grandparents during holidays and spend a lot of quality time there. They develop a good emotional connection with their family, learn empathy and how to take care of their grandparents by spending more time with them.

Moreover, longer holidays help children to learn new skills and polish them by spending more time on it, For example, children in their summer vacations learn swimming as a hobby and also participate in competitions which make them competitive and talented with good leadership skills.

On the other hand, shorter holidays has its own benefits, it help children to take rest from the grinding pressure of school and its study and recoil back to the same routine without any excessive gap so that they remain disciplined. On contrary to longer holidays, shorter holidays help children to adjust themselves according to the time table and routine more easily which can be difficult after longer rest.

To recapitulate, both longer and shorter holidays have their pros and cones, However, in my opinion, longer holidays are more effective for children with a lot of benefits.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both questions and maintain a clear preference for longer holidays, supported by relevant examples. The discussion of family relationships is specific: children visiting grandparents can build emotional connections and learn empathy. You also explain how summer breaks allow time to develop skills such as swimming. The case for shorter holidays is present, with points about rest, discipline and returning to routine, but it is less fully explained than the benefits of long breaks. The opening comparison between countries is also not developed into a clear supporting point. To strengthen the response, explain more precisely how shorter breaks help learning or wellbeing, and extend the comparison of the two holiday patterns with a further reason or example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the advantages of longer and shorter holidays, and a conclusion. Sequencing phrases such as “First of all,” “Moreover,” and “On the other hand” make the main shifts easy to follow. However, some linking is mechanical, and the conclusion repeats the preference without drawing together the main reasons. A few connections between ideas could be clearer; for example, the sentence about swimming moves quickly from learning a hobby to competitions and leadership skills. Use linking expressions more selectively and show the relationship between each example and its main point. A more developed final paragraph could briefly compare the benefits before reaffirming your position.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of vocabulary, including “emotional connection,” “empathy,” “competitive,” and “disciplined,” which helps communicate the main ideas. There are also attempts at less common expressions, but several choices or collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, such as “part of curriculum,” “recoil back to the same routine,” and “pros and cones.” Spelling errors such as “preferd” and “benifits” also reduce accuracy. These issues do not prevent the reader from understanding your argument, but they limit precision and naturalness. Focus on common academic collocations and check spelling carefully; for instance, use “an essential part of the school year” and “return to their usual routine.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including clauses introduced by “because,” “that,” and “which.” Most ideas remain understandable, but some grammatical errors occur across the response. Examples include subject–verb agreement in “shorter holidays has” and “it help,” and article or plural problems in “the shorter one” and “many country.” Punctuation also needs attention: the opening uses a comma before “However” where a full stop or semicolon is needed, and several sentences contain unnecessary commas or spacing. Practise checking agreement, articles and singular/plural forms, then proofread sentence boundaries. More accurate control of these patterns would make your varied sentence structures clearer and more fluent.

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