Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-25

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 6.0)

There are many countries around the world which provide summer holidays for two or more months in primary and secondary schools. Due to long school holidays, students can participate in recreational activities outside school. However, shorter holidays are essential so that the students don't become disconnected from their studies for too long.

One of the main value of lengthy holidays is that students can spend more time doing recreational activities to gain real world knowledge besides bookish knowledge. By participating in the activities that they enjoy, they will gain a sense of freedom and build an individual personality. Such experience will help them to solve any upcoming difficulties that they may face in life. For instance, a student who goes to summer camp will learn to do his own chores and improve socialising skills.

Although long vacations have advantages but shorter holidays are important so that students who are in primary and secondary stage of institutional learning don't go astray from their path of education. Students can enjoy their hobbies during the shorter period of time of vacations. Many students tend to avoid studying with several excuses,for such reason, spending a long time without studying will only add fuel to the fire. For example, many students dropout from highschool and such decision is not taken in a day rather they think of doing so from secondary schools.

In conclusion, school vacations are necessary for spending time exploring one's hobbies but that should be given for a shorter period of time than a longer one so that students may also expand their knowledge without being distracted from education.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both questions and maintain a clear preference for shorter holidays, while recognising that longer breaks allow recreation and personal development. The summer-camp example supports the value of independent activities, and the point that students may lose contact with study explains the case for shorter breaks. However, the two sides are not developed equally: the benefits of long holidays are explained more clearly, whereas the argument that shorter breaks prevent students from leaving education relies on a broad claim about dropouts without showing how holiday length causes this. Develop that link and add a specific benefit of shorter breaks, such as preserving learning routines or reducing the need to reteach material, to make the response more fully supported.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two sides, and a conclusion that restates your position. Ideas generally progress logically, and signposts such as “One of the main value” and “For instance” help readers follow the discussion. This meets the lower-band expectation of coherent organisation and shows some flexibility in linking examples to claims. At times, however, connections are mechanical or unclear. “Although long vacations have advantages but” combines two contrasting structures, and “for such reason” does not connect smoothly to the preceding sentence. Use one contrast marker at a time and make the cause-and-effect link between shorter breaks and continued engagement explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range for the topic, including “recreational activities,” “real world knowledge,” “individual personality,” and “disconnected from their studies.” These choices communicate the main ideas, and attempts at less common expressions show some range. Some wording is imprecise or unnatural, though: “One of the main value” has an incorrect form, “institutional learning” is awkward in this context, and “add fuel to the fire” does not clearly express the effect of a long break. “Dropout from highschool” is also not the natural form for describing students leaving school. Choose more precise collocations and check compound-word spelling so that your vocabulary sounds natural as well as understandable.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including a relative clause in “a student who goes to summer camp” and a purpose clause in “so that students may also expand their knowledge.” Meaning remains clear despite some grammatical errors. These include subject–verb agreement in “One of the main value,” the faulty contrast structure “Although long vacations have advantages but,” and the sentence fragment-like construction “for such reason, spending a long time…” after a comma. There are also issues with articles and number, as in “in primary and secondary stage.” Review agreement, article use, and how to join independent clauses; varying sentence patterns is useful, but ensure each complex sentence is grammatically complete.

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