Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-31

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)

During summer, a lot of primary and secondary schools close in a lot of countries to have two- month vacation.

Summer break is beficial not just for the students but as well as for the teachers, while others argued that it shoul be shortened to have more academic learnings.

School holidays give the students and teachers a breather, a time to rest and reset. It is an essential part for both since they could have quality time with their families, learn new hobbies and visit other places. It is valuable not just physically but also metally as it keep them away from stress in stuying and meeting deadlines as attending school is most of the time overwhelming. Just like in the Philippines that also has two-month summer break in schools, it becomes something that students and teachers are looking forward to.

However, there are people that would want holidays to be shorter. One reason is because of the learning loss for their children. Having more time in school means more lessons to be covered. Morever most parents want their childen to be more focus on their academics than having a lot of time for distractions like being on their ipad or phones all the time during vacation. This could also lead to forgetting all of the lessons they have learned.

Therefore, I believe that having long school holidays is a great way to be ready for the next academic year for both students and teachers. Making them physically and mentally prepared for the next challenges they will face academically.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both parts of the question: you explain that long holidays allow students and teachers to rest, spend time with family, pursue hobbies and travel, then present concerns about learning loss and distractions from phones. Your position is also clear in the conclusion, where you support longer breaks. These are relevant points, and the reference to the Philippines gives the discussion a concrete context. However, the arguments are not developed equally: the benefits are explained in more detail, while the case for shorter holidays is mostly asserted. Explain, for example, how a shorter break could help students retain knowledge, and support this with a specific example. The conclusion also repeats your preference rather than weighing the two sides.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the benefits and arguments for shorter holidays, and a concluding position. The contrastive opening of the third paragraph, “However,” helps signal the shift in viewpoint, while “Therefore” introduces the conclusion. This logical arrangement makes the main line of argument easy to follow. To strengthen progression further, connect supporting details more explicitly: the ideas about family time, hobbies and travel could be grouped or linked to the broader benefit of recovery. Some links are mechanical, and the final sentence is a fragment beginning “Making them physically and mentally prepared,” so it does not connect grammatically to the preceding sentence. Clearer links between claims and explanations would make cohesion more natural.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “learning loss,” “academic,” “stress,” “deadlines” and “distractions.” Phrases such as “a breather” and “quality time” also help express the value of a break. However, spelling errors and imprecise or unnatural word combinations are noticeable, including “beficial,” “metally,” “stuying,” “academic learnings” and “more focus.” These sometimes make the reader pause, even though the intended meaning is generally recoverable. Aim for accurate spelling and more natural collocations, and avoid repeating broad terms such as “time” and “school.” For instance, “academic learning” or “learning opportunities” is more idiomatic than “academic learnings.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including the contrast in “Summer break is … for the teachers, while others argued…” and the reason introduced by “since.” Most of the main ideas remain understandable, but some grammatical errors affect accuracy. For example, “Summer break is beneficial” needs a complete and correctly formed verb phrase, and “as it keep them” requires subject–verb agreement. The sentence beginning “Making them physically and mentally prepared” is a fragment rather than a complete conclusion. There are also problems with articles and number, as in “their childen” and “their childen to be more focus.” Practise checking verb forms, agreement and sentence completeness, especially when joining ideas with clauses.

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