Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-23

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)

As mentioned, primary and secondary schools in many countries closes for 2 or more months in summer holidays. The longer school holidays allow students to relax more and develop new skills whereas the shorter holidays offer academic development within the premises.

The advantage of longer school holidays is, it gives more time to students in developing new skills and figure out their personal interests. The kids can engage in activities like learning new musical instruments, foreign languages, summer camps. Apart from this, they will have plenty of time to engage with their family members and go on different trips. Even i used to spend my vacations at my grandparents house where I learned french from my uncle who visited our place often.

Shorter holidays provide more time for academic growth. As the students will have more time to work on the specific subjects that they are weak in.

I remember when i was in my school years, at the age of 16, i was struggling with maths. My school started giving separate batches for this specific subject. My scores significantly improved after those classes

In conclusion, both the holidays have their own pros and cons but according to me longer holidays should be given to students. Because life isn’t all about grades but practical knowledge and skills.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions and give a clear preference for longer holidays, supported by relevant personal examples: learning French from your uncle and improving your maths through extra classes. However, the discussion is uneven. The value of long holidays is explained with several benefits, while the case for shorter holidays is stated mainly as “more time for academic growth” and receives only one brief example. The conclusion adds a view about practical skills, but this could be linked more explicitly to the benefits discussed. The response also contains 217 words, so it does not meet the required minimum of 250; this limits the space available to develop and support both sides. Expand the shorter-holiday argument and explain the examples more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs on each type of holiday, and a conclusion. This makes the main points easy to identify, and phrases such as “Apart from this” and “In conclusion” help signal relationships. However, progression within the shorter-holiday paragraph is weak: “As the students will have more time…” is a sentence fragment rather than a complete explanation, and the personal example is separated into another paragraph without a clear link. The opening contrast also compresses the two positions into a brief summary. Use complete topic sentences, connect each example directly to its claim, and develop the comparison in a more balanced sequence. These changes would make cohesion less abrupt and the overall progression clearer.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “develop new skills,” “personal interests,” “academic growth,” and “practical knowledge.” The personal examples also give the language some specificity. However, the range is limited and several expressions are imprecise or unnatural, such as “academic development within the premises,” “separate batches,” and “engage with their family members.” Repetition of “holidays,” “students,” and “time” also restricts flexibility. Choose more precise collocations and vary key terms—for example, describe extra classes as “targeted support” and activities as “pursue personal interests.” This would make the argument sound more natural and precise while preserving your clear meaning.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including the contrast in “The longer school holidays allow students to relax more … whereas the shorter holidays offer…” and the relative clause “where I learned French.” Meaning is generally understandable, but errors recur in agreement, sentence boundaries, and punctuation. For example, “schools … closes” should be “schools … close,” and “The advantage … is, it gives” needs a clearer structure, such as “One advantage … is that it gives.” “As the students will have more time…” is a dependent clause presented as a sentence, while “Because life isn’t all about grades…” is also a fragment. Review subject–verb agreement and ensure each sentence has a complete main clause; this will improve accuracy and control.

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