Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-27
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)
in many nations ,school observe a lengthy summer break of two months or more .while long holidays have clear developmental benefits. and some arguments for shorter holidays.
when there are long holidays childrens have opportunity to learn out side the class room they are not bounded in the class room environment they can try diffrent activities like when i used to get summer holidays we used to become very excited now we are free from school and we can now do the thing we want i used to join summer camps for swimming class for kungfu and we allso went for a northern trip for holistic healing just beacuse of holidays there is much time to spend with family and this helps to make family bonding strong this gives opportunity to learn how diffrent people have diffrent life style like if we talkl about Pakistan there are 5 provincies in it and each province have there own culture there own life style visiting diffrent areas helps childeren to learn physically about culture nation beauty of country .
now on other hand if we talk about shorter holidays .most significant loss is in learning the reasearch consistently shows students ,particularly from disadvantaged backgroungs,almost frogot the substantial amount of education what they learned .teachers are forced to conduct revising weeks this is often called summer slide.moreover this makes difficulty to take care of children if parents are working they cant manage the things they searches for the day care for eight or more weeks this mkaes there expenses more higher and they cant manage the things.
in conclusion long holidays helps in making family bonding and gives opportunity to learn more outside the class room but there are also some negative aspects of it . In my opinion holidays must be in chunks teachers and parents both will manage it.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
You address both questions: the first body paragraph explains how holidays allow children to attend activities, travel and spend time with family, while the next gives concerns about learning loss and childcare costs. These are relevant points, and the personal example of swimming and kung fu camps helps illustrate the value of time away from school. However, the discussion is only partly developed. The case for shorter holidays is not clearly explained as an argument for shorter breaks; instead, you describe disadvantages of long holidays, such as the “summer slide” and childcare expenses. Clarify the benefits of shorter breaks—for example, more continuous learning and less need for childcare—and develop each point with a clear explanation. Your final opinion about holidays being arranged “in chunks” is relevant but needs justification.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
There is a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs on the benefits and drawbacks of long holidays, and a conclusion. Transitions such as “on other hand,” “moreover” and “in conclusion” help signal the direction of the response. However, progression within paragraphs is difficult to follow because several distinct ideas are joined into very long sentences, particularly the account of camps, travel and cultural learning. Some links are also unclear: the paragraph beginning “now on other hand” discusses problems caused by long holidays rather than directly setting out the case for shorter ones. Use clearer topic sentences, divide examples and explanations into separate sentences, and make the relationship between each claim and the task question explicit.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “developmental benefits,” “disadvantaged backgrounds,” “summer slide” and “family bonding.” These choices show an attempt to discuss education and family life beyond very basic terms. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate or unclear, such as “not bounded in the class room environment,” “learn physically about culture,” and “makes there expenses more higher.” Spelling errors—including “diffrent,” “provincies” and “frogot”—are frequent enough to distract the reader. Build a more precise set of phrases for the topic, and check spelling and word forms carefully. For instance, describe children as “not confined to the classroom” and say that travel helps them “experience the country’s cultural diversity.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
You attempt some longer structures, including conditional and relative clauses, as in “if parents are working they cant manage the things” and “the research consistently shows students…”. However, many sentences are difficult to process because clauses are joined without reliable punctuation, and the range of sentence patterns is limited. Errors include missing or incorrect articles and plurals (“when there are long holidays childrens have opportunity”), subject–verb agreement (“each province have”), and verb forms (“holidays helps”). Sentence boundaries and capitalization are also inconsistent, including the opening sentence fragments. These errors sometimes make relationships between ideas unclear. Practise writing shorter, complete sentences first, then combine them using accurate conjunctions and punctuation; check agreement and articles during editing.
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