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)

Primary and secondary schools are essential materials for future career of students. Most of the individuals believe that primary and secondary school should not be closed for a long-term vacations like summer. There are a lot of benefits to long-term school holidays.

Looking at a long period of holidays in schools, most of the students try to use this vacation time in a practical way. Students used to learn various type of practical skills such as cooking, driving and so on. Also sometimes they get some part-time jobs which is help them in future work eexperience section. Students, for instance, who learn cooking on their vacation time so that after opening the school, they can cook their food by themselves. Closely linked to this idea, holidays help the students to relax and refresh their mind. When their minds is fresh and relax, they can easily concentrate on their study. Therefore, vacations help students be more mindfull and dedicated.

On the other hand, most of the individuals think that shorter school holidays are more favourable than lond-term holidays. From the perspective of parents, they think a long period of holidays make students more lazy and unproductive. So, they think short vacation will be more preferable. Students, for example, do not try to do anything during vacation and spend their time without doing any productive works. As a result, in school, students will be able to do new things rather than stay in home. Closely linked with this aspect, parents are think that holidays are waste of time and it will bad impact on their study.

In conclusion, from my perspective it completely depends on students preference, if they work properly on vacation it will be a great chan

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions by describing benefits of long holidays—practical skills, part-time work, and rest—and arguments for shorter breaks, such as concerns about inactivity and lost study time. These points are relevant, but several are asserted rather than explained: for example, the cooking example does not clearly show how holiday length creates a broader benefit, and the claim that students will “do new things” at school is unclear. Your conclusion begins to state a conditional view based on students’ choices, but it is cut off, so your overall position is not fully established. Develop each main point with a clearer explanation or example, and finish with a complete, direct 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 identify the main topics. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes difficult to follow: the example about cooking is awkwardly connected to the point about practical skills, while “As a result” does not clearly follow from the preceding claim about students staying at home. Phrases such as “Closely linked to this idea/aspect” are repeated and do not always show a precise relationship between ideas. The conclusion is incomplete, which also weakens the overall progression. Use simpler, more exact links and ensure each example clearly supports the sentence before it.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use a range of topic-related vocabulary, including “practical skills,” “part-time jobs,” “concentrate,” and “unproductive,” so the main ideas are generally understandable. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, sometimes making meaning less clear. Examples include “essential materials” for schools, “long-term vacations,” “experience section,” and “waste of time.” There are also spelling errors such as “eexperience,” “mindfull,” and “lond-term.” Aim for more natural academic phrasing and check spelling and word forms carefully. More precise vocabulary would help distinguish between the benefits of a long break and the reasons parents may prefer shorter holidays.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including clauses beginning with “When,” “who,” and “if.” However, complex structures are often faulty, and errors occur frequently enough to make some sentences difficult to interpret. For example, “Students, for instance, who learn cooking on their vacation time so that…” is incomplete, while “parents are think” and “it will bad impact” show problems with verb forms and sentence construction. Agreement is also inconsistent in “their minds is fresh,” and the final sentence is unfinished. Practise building complete sentences with a clear subject and verb, and check agreement, verb forms, and clause boundaries before submitting.

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