Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-17

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)

Mejority of the school around the world give stududants a long summer vacatoion. although this type of holidayes plays a great role in a childs growth, some people beleive that students should not be away from schools for a long period.

A long break from monotonious rutine of school can be helpful for students in saveral ways. Firstly, students can explore new things such as doing social work, which can help them to build their personality. Moreover, they can use this time to improve other skills such as coding, drawing etc. Many of the teenagers find it conviniant to do part time job during the summer vaction, which can help them financially in future. In addition childran needs time to play, if they are stuck with studing all day they might face diffuculty in their mental growth.

On the other hand, many belives satying away from school for months can hamper students study.For instance, a student having a long free time and doen't need to study might get adicted to bad habites such as playing video games exessacivly, which will result in lossing intrest to go back to school and have a focus in study. Furthermore, if there is a shorter holiday students will get enough time for a refreashment and can get back to study eaisly. One more thing to point out that in many countries it is seen students who do a part time job during the summer vacation tend to drop out of school because they are geting money and they find study useless as they chould earn from a early age. It can be also noted that, reserches show many childrean uder 10 feel alone and annoying staying in their home for a longer period, they tends to enjoy their school time more then their vacation time.

In conclusion, long vacation in school dose have benefits for many students however it dose have some drawbacks also.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions by explaining benefits of a long break—such as social work, developing skills, part-time employment and time to play—and giving reasons for shorter holidays, including maintaining study habits and making the return to school easier. The response therefore has relevant ideas on both sides. However, several points are asserted rather than clearly explained: for example, the claim that summer work leads students to drop out, and the reference to research about children feeling lonely, need clearer support or qualification. The conclusion merely repeats that holidays have benefits and drawbacks, without stating which arguments you find more persuasive. Develop the examples and make your overall position clearer to strengthen the response.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, one paragraph on the value of long holidays, a contrasting paragraph supporting shorter breaks, and a conclusion. Linking expressions such as “Firstly,” “Moreover,” “On the other hand,” and “Furthermore” help signal the progression. However, the second body paragraph contains several different claims in quick succession, so the links between them are not always clear; the point about part-time work and dropping out, for instance, shifts the focus from study habits without a transition explaining the connection. Some linking is also mechanical, with repeated additive markers such as “One more thing to point out.” Group related ideas more carefully and use clearer references to make the argument flow more naturally.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use a range of topic-related vocabulary, including “personality,” “financially,” “mental growth,” “drop out,” and “refreshment,” and these choices generally make your meaning understandable. There are, however, many noticeable spelling errors, including “monotonious,” “conviniant,” “exessacivly,” and “reserches,” which reduce the accuracy and ease of reading. Some expressions are also imprecise or unnatural: “a long free time” and “have a focus in study” do not express the intended ideas idiomatically. Aim to learn and check common collocations connected with education and holidays, and proofread spelling carefully. More precise phrasing would help you express your relevant ideas without relying on general wording.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including conditional structures such as “if they are stuck with studying all day” and a relative clause in “a student having a long free time and doesn’t need to study.” However, complex sentences are often faulty, and errors occur frequently enough to make some sentences difficult to follow. For example, “students study” needs a possessive form in “hamper students’ study,” while “they tends” has incorrect subject–verb agreement. The opening also has a sentence-boundary problem: “holidayes plays … growth, some people believe” joins two independent clauses with only a comma. Practise agreement, possessives, articles and sentence boundaries, and check that each clause has a clear, consistent grammatical structure.

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