Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-11-02

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)

Children in Pakistan and many other states experience long summer holidays due to the climate change, rising in the temperature and also so that children can spend time with their families.

As we know that the education system in many states start recruiting the children that the age of 2 to 3 years ( the ship that sailed) and that is too early for them. At this age they should be spending time with their families. So inorder to maintain a balance the schools gives 2 to 3 month summer holidays. That I believe is so important for the children, giving them chance to spend time and make unique bond and memeries with their families.

I myself witness, when i was in primary school the holidays were not that much long. Due to heat strock, I saw the chidren falling down in the assemblies and during playing. As every year the Global warming is increasing so it is safe for the children to stay at home instead of coming to school.

But now I have also noticed that due to the accsess to mobile phones is easy for every children. The children spent almost all the time on mobile phones causing alot of harm to their eyesight and also psychological problems. So now i believe it better to give shorter holidays to the school childrens as in schools they will learn, develop their cognitive thinking instead of wasting their time and abilities on cell phones.

Overall, I believe that with pace of time we also have to change our circulums in a way that benefits our children instead of harming them. Policies should be made at the government level considering the pros and cons of the longer holidays as these children are our future

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both questions and maintain a clear overall view: long holidays allow family time and protect children from extreme heat, while shorter breaks may reduce excessive phone use and keep learning active. The personal example about children becoming unwell in assemblies makes the heat-related argument relevant. However, the value of holidays is developed more fully than the case for shorter holidays, which rests mainly on mobile-phone use and continued learning. The opening reference to climate change and rising temperatures could also be explained more precisely, and the final point about government policy does not add much support to either side. To strengthen the response, develop the shorter-holiday argument with a specific benefit or example, and make the comparison between the two positions more explicit.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a coherent overall arrangement: it introduces the issue, gives reasons for long holidays, presents a personal example, then considers shorter holidays before concluding. Paragraphing helps distinguish these stages, and phrases such as “So” and “But now” signal shifts in the discussion. At times, however, connections are mechanical or unclear. For example, “As we know that” does not form a clear link to the preceding point, while “Overall” introduces a conclusion that repeats the need to consider pros and cons without clearly resolving the comparison. Some references, such as “That I believe,” are also difficult to connect precisely to the preceding idea. Use clearer topic sentences and link each paragraph directly to one of the task questions.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “Global warming,” “cognitive thinking,” “psychological problems,” and “pros and cons.” There are also attempts at more specific expressions, such as “unique bond” and “heat stroke.” However, spelling errors and imprecise or unnatural word choices are noticeable, including “memeries,” “accsess,” “circulums,” and “the education system… start recruiting the children.” Some phrases are also repetitive, particularly references to children and holidays, and “wasting their time and abilities” is not a precise description of phone use. These choices do not prevent the reader from understanding the argument, but they limit precision. Check spelling carefully and choose more natural collocations, such as “enrol children” and “school curricula.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a reason clause in “so that children can spend time with their families” and a contrast introduced by “But now.” The main ideas are generally understandable, but errors in sentence construction and agreement occur across the response. For example, “As we know that” creates an incomplete or awkward clause, “the education system… start” has a subject–verb agreement problem, and “the schools gives” also uses the wrong verb form. There are further issues with articles, plurals, and sentence boundaries, as in “for every children” and the long final sentence. To improve, build sentences around a clear subject and verb, check singular/plural agreement, and use full stops to separate ideas that are currently joined together.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.