Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-21

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)

For different countries the holiday system is different. In several countries, the aurthority close the schools for two months or more during the summer vacation. From my perspective i don't encourage this kind of long holiday. I would prefer shorter holidays for schools.

Holiday is important for students as well as for teachers. In holidays people can take a break from there busy life. They are able to spend the long vacation in various ways. Humans can spend more quality time with their family, friends and loved ones. It will make them stress free. Students can be able to learn about family values and morality. They can take a long trip to go to different stunning places such as sea beaches, hilly places. Besides they can go to museum as well as some historical places. It it enhance their know knowledge about history and ancient people.

There are some disadvantages of long holidays. Humans don't need two months for refrestment. Instead they can take a trip for 15 days and enjoy the vacation properly. For rest of the time in lengthy off time, students can get bored and pass the time in a unproductive way. It will make the students lazy and depressed. Pupil should spend time with family every day. For this purpose, we don't need long holidays.

In conclusion i want to say that students as well as people from all ages need holidays to refresh their mind and be more productive in their own way. But long vacations some times make them lazy and unproductive as most of them time they don't have anything to do. Moveover the shorter holidays are more convenient. In shorter vacation, people can take activites and enjoy their off time properly.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions and make your preference clear: you do not support long holidays and favour shorter ones. The value of a break is illustrated through family time, rest, and visits to beaches, museums, and historical sites. However, these points are mostly listed rather than explained, and the benefits of long holidays are not weighed against the case for shorter ones in much depth. The argument for shorter holidays focuses mainly on boredom and inactivity; it would be stronger with a specific explanation of how shorter breaks could support learning or help students retain routines. Develop fewer ideas with clearer reasoning and a relevant example to make the response more complete and persuasive.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs on the value and drawbacks of long holidays, and a conclusion. This helps the reader follow the broad direction of your argument. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes list-like, particularly where family time, travel, and learning about history are presented one after another without showing how they connect. Some linking is repetitive or awkward, such as repeated uses of “Besides” and “For this purpose,” and the conclusion introduces “shorter holidays” without fully drawing together the earlier comparison. Use clearer topic sentences and connect each example to the paragraph’s main claim; vary linking expressions and make references between ideas more precise.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use a range of relevant vocabulary, including “quality time,” “historical places,” “productive,” and “refresh their mind,” so the main ideas are generally understandable. However, the range is limited by repeated general words such as “people,” “students,” and “holiday,” while several inaccurate word choices or forms make the writing less natural. Examples include “aurthority,” “refrestment,” “know knowledge,” and “activites”; “off time” and “stunning places” are also not always the most suitable expressions for this discussion. Build a more precise vocabulary for school breaks and their effects, and check spelling and collocations carefully. This would make your points clearer and reduce the effort required to interpret some phrases.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and longer sentence forms, including “In holidays people can take a break from there busy life” and sentences beginning with “Instead” and “For this purpose.” However, the range is limited, and errors occur frequently enough to make some sentences difficult to read smoothly. For example, “the aurthority close the schools” has a subject–verb agreement problem, while “Students can be able to learn” uses an unnecessary construction. In “It it enhance their know knowledge,” the sentence structure and verb form break down. There are also inconsistent capitalisation and punctuation choices, such as lowercase “i” and missing commas after introductory phrases. Practise accurate sentence patterns before adding more complex clauses.

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