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)

Elemantary and secondary schools close for a couple of months or more in summer season which illustrate long school holidays. There are various value of long school holidays like time for children to enjoy and mental rest while there are some arguments in favour of shorter school holidays such as gaining more knowledge and personal growth.

To begin with, there are several benefits of having long school holidays. One of the prominent reasons is time for children to make fun. Elaborating it, students have more time to enjoy doing many activities in holidays. For instance, they play many sports, doing physical exercise, socialize in neighbours and spending time with their family. In addition they can watch tv, mobile which they enjoyable. Likewise, mental rest is another major factors of it. To explain it, students spent most of their time in school and when they back home they have to do many assignments and project work which really feel pressurise so for the mental rest schools must give long holidays.

On the other hand, there are various arguments that support shorter school holidays. Gaining more knowledge is one of the main supportive approach. To clarify it, when pupils are in long holidays they are bored and less intrested in learning. Therefore, shorter holidays plan is far more better then long holidays due to learning and gaining more knowledge points. Similarly, another bullet point is personal growth. In addition, pupils get friendly, confident, less distract in study and not attached with mobiles phone, laptops and television and that leads into personal growth. Furthermore, the activities doing in schools helps being participate and career growth.

To sum up, long holidays and shorter school holidays both are vital for learners. However, giving short holidays is more advantage for pupils career growth and daily routine.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions by identifying benefits of long holidays—enjoyment and mental rest—and arguments for shorter breaks, including continued learning and personal growth. Your conclusion also gives a preference for shorter holidays. However, the ideas are only partly developed: the discussion of enjoyment lists activities, but does not explain their value in much depth, while the claims that shorter holidays prevent boredom and support career growth are asserted rather than illustrated or explained. The position becomes clear mainly in the conclusion, rather than being established consistently from the introduction. Develop each main point with a clearer explanation and a relevant example, and make your overall view explicit earlier in the response.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two sides, and a conclusion. This makes the main progression easy to follow. You also use signposts such as “To begin with,” “On the other hand,” and “To sum up.” However, some linking is mechanical, with repeated phrases such as “To explain it” and “In addition,” and the relationship between ideas is not always clear. For example, the sentence beginning “In addition, pupils get friendly, confident…” combines several outcomes without showing how they connect to shorter holidays. Use fewer formulaic transitions and organise each body paragraph around one main idea, followed by explanation and an example.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “mental rest,” “assignments,” “personal growth,” and “career growth,” and the reader can generally understand the points you intend to make. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, which sometimes makes meaning unclear. Examples include “time for children to make fun,” “supportive approach,” and “less distract in study.” There are also spelling errors such as “Elemantary” and “intrested,” alongside imprecise expressions such as “knowledge points.” Build a more accurate range of phrases for discussing education and wellbeing, and check spelling and collocations. Prefer natural combinations such as “enjoy leisure activities” and “remain engaged in learning.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including clauses introduced by “when,” “which,” and “therefore.” This shows an effort to vary sentence structure. However, errors occur frequently, and some sentences are difficult to process. For example, “students spent most of their time in school and when they back home they have to do…” shifts tense and omits a verb in “they back home.” In “there are various value,” the noun form and agreement are incorrect, while “students have more time to enjoy doing many activities” is awkwardly constructed. Practise accurate subject–verb agreement, verb forms, articles, and sentence boundaries. Build longer sentences from a reliable grammatical pattern before adding extra clauses.

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