Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-19

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)

It is widely acknowledged that both primary and secondary schools have longer summer holidays. Although more holidays help students to spend their time with family members as well as they can learn some new skills, learners may be face difficulty to continue their study and sometimes they can join some wrong group during day off.

one of the main advantage of longer holidays is that it provides great opportunities to pupils to spend quality time with their family members. Undoubtedly, nowadays parents tend to take their children admission in schools in early age, due to this they can not spend more time together. As a result, not only more day off assists them to make strong relation with their near and dear ones, but also learners can relax them themselves during holidays. In addition, more holidays offer students to learn numerous new skills. Indeed, if learners have more holidays, they can take online classes regarding practical skills, resulting into they can gain more experience along with valuable knowledge. For this reason, it is valid to insist that more close day at schools has more positive impacts especially on students lives.

Nevertheless, shorter holidays also have various benefits such as it assists learners to continue their education and improve themselves during their classes. It is irrefutable that when people likely to take longer holidays, they face a lot of problems to continue join their study because they can not like to break their comfort zone. Coupled with, sometimes, if learners have more longer holidays , they tend to spend their time outside. Due to this, they can take wrong steps and started to do some incorrect activities like consuming drugs because of peer pressure. Therefore, shorter school holidays are much more preferable all over the world.

In conclusion, even though longer day off helps to feel relax and gain different kinds of experience, shorter holidays assists to continue their study and take small nap.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions and present relevant points: longer breaks can allow family time, rest and skills development, while shorter breaks may help students maintain study routines and avoid negative peer influences. However, the discussion is only partly developed. For example, the claim that pupils may join “some wrong group” is not explained with a specific situation or clear link to holiday length, and “take small nap” in the conclusion does not clearly support your comparison. Your overall preference also shifts: the introduction acknowledges drawbacks of long holidays, the body concludes that shorter holidays are preferable, but the final sentence does not clearly restate this position. Develop each main point with a clearer explanation or example and maintain one consistent conclusion.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two sides, and a conclusion. Linking expressions such as “In addition,” “Nevertheless,” and “In conclusion” help signal the direction of the discussion. However, progression within sentences and between ideas is sometimes unclear or mechanical. For instance, “Coupled with” does not connect naturally to the preceding point, while “Due to this” leaves the relationship between longer holidays and harmful activities insufficiently clear. Some references, including “it” in “it provides great opportunities,” are also imprecise. Organise each paragraph around a clear topic sentence, then explain and illustrate that point before moving on; use linking phrases only where the logical relationship is clear.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a range of topic-related vocabulary, including “quality time,” “practical skills,” “peer pressure,” and “comfort zone,” and the reader can generally understand your intended meaning. However, word choice and collocation are often inaccurate or repetitive, which limits precision. Examples include “take their children admission in schools,” “make strong relation,” “more close day at schools,” and “take wrong steps.” Some phrases sound unnatural, such as “near and dear ones” in this context and “take small nap” as a summary of the benefits of shorter holidays. Aim for more natural academic collocations and check whether each phrase expresses the intended idea precisely. Replacing repeated uses of “more holidays” with terms such as “extended breaks” can also improve variety.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mixture of simple and complex structures, including a “not only … but also” construction and conditional clauses. However, complex sentences are often faulty, and errors occur frequently enough to make some sentences difficult to follow. For example, “learners may be face difficulty” has an incorrect verb pattern, and “resulting into they can gain” does not form a grammatical clause. There are also problems with agreement and sentence construction in “one of the main advantage … it provides” and “shorter holidays assists.” Capitalisation and punctuation are inconsistent, including the lowercase opening “one” and spaces before commas. Practise building accurate clauses first, then combine them, checking subject–verb agreement and verb forms.

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