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)

Summer break serves a very important role in a developing child's life, it helps a child relax and take part in more non-academic activities before continuing a long, strenuos academic year. However, in many parts of the world, primary and secondary schools remain closed for 2 months or more during the summer break. In my opinion, this is a valid practice.

The greatest advantage of long holidays is the availability of time to relax and take some time off from academics. Students undergo a tightly scheduled academic year with no long breaks, especially in-case of primary and secondary school students, break remains as an essential component before starting a new school year. Children relax, play, develop new hobbies, learn new skills during this period thus favouring the development of the child. Therefore, providing sufficient time to nurture these skills and hobbies is important.

On the other hand, short school holidays also has its pros like short school holidays makes students not lose touch with academics for longer periods. Children have the tendency to forget parts of their earlier academics during longer summer breaks, thus having the need to refresh it after the summer break. Therefore, setting back their new academic year. Consequently, shorter holidays makes less room for distractions for students who are extremely focussed on academics.

In conclusion, although shorter breaks makes a student have less distractions, thus focussing solely on academics, longer holidays helps children developing usefull ho

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You address both questions: the first body paragraph explains that a long break gives children time to rest, pursue hobbies and learn skills, while the next presents the benefit of shorter breaks in helping students retain academic knowledge. Your view that long holidays are valid is stated in the introduction. However, the discussion is only partly developed: the shorter-holiday argument is brief, and neither side is supported with a specific example. The conclusion is cut off at “longer holidays helps children developing usefull ho”, so it does not complete the comparison or clearly restate your position. The response also falls 10 words short of the required minimum. Develop each argument with an explanation or example, and finish the conclusion.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two sides, and an attempted conclusion. This helps the reader follow the main contrast. Linking expressions such as “However,” “On the other hand,” and “Therefore” show an effort to connect ideas, but some links are mechanical or do not express the relationship clearly. For example, “Therefore, setting back their new academic year” is a fragment, and “Consequently” does not smoothly connect the following point. The final sentence is incomplete, which disrupts the overall progression. Use complete sentences, make cause-and-effect links explicit, and ensure the conclusion brings the discussion to a clear close.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “academic year,” “non-academic activities,” “develop new hobbies,” and “lose touch with academics.” These phrases communicate the main ideas, and there is some variety in how you describe the benefits of each holiday pattern. However, the range is limited in places, and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate or awkward, such as “tightly scheduled academic year,” “setting back their new academic year,” and “makes less room for distractions.” Spelling errors in “strenuos” and “usefull” also reduce accuracy. Aim for more natural collocations and check spelling; for example, describe students as “returning to school” rather than “setting back” their academic year.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including clauses with “before,” “especially,” and “although.” The main ideas are generally understandable, but errors in sentence boundaries, agreement, and verb forms recur. The opening joins two independent clauses with a comma: “Summer break serves … life, it helps a child…”. There is also disagreement in “short school holidays also has” and “shorter holidays makes,” while “longer holidays helps children developing” contains errors in both agreement and verb pattern. The conclusion is unfinished, and “Therefore, setting back their new academic year” is not a complete sentence. Practise checking each sentence for a clear subject and finite verb, and use a full stop or conjunction to join complete clauses.

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