Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

In many countries, primary and secondary schools close for two months or more than two months in the summer vacation. This essay will discuss both views.

Ragarding the long summer holidays, it allows students to spent time with their family or visit their grandmother's house. There are several benefits of having long vacations from schools such as spending time with loveones, learning new skills during this days or visit new cities or countries. Furthermore, students feel fresh after long holidays. For instance some times student feels overwhelmed by studying in schools that's why long holidays makes their mood fresh and makes them more productive. Another example is that, student pay more attention towards their academic tasks after having the long vacations. Although having long days off from schools provides several benfits, it also contains numerous drawbacks.

Turning towards the negative impacts, some times long vacation makes stundents lazy. It means some student become lazy and when they return back school they forget everything and need to start from zero. Moreover, it also creates hurdles for parents to take care of their children and teach them daily. However, long vacation is good and makes students fresh, it also impact on their educational background and disturb their parents.

To sum up, even though having long vacation from schools allow the pupils to spent quality of time with their friends or family, it also makes them lazy and forget their previous lessons. I belive there should be balance between long and short vacation. Because both are important giving freedom and also take care of their education.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions to some extent: you explain that long holidays give pupils time with family, opportunities to learn skills and a chance to rest, then present shorter holidays as a way to reduce laziness and forgetting lessons. The examples about feeling overwhelmed and returning to school are relevant. However, the second question is not answered clearly enough: the essay mainly lists drawbacks of long breaks rather than explaining the arguments for shorter holidays, such as maintaining learning continuity or easing childcare demands. Several points are repeated or asserted without development, and the conclusion’s call for “balance” is not explained. The response meets the stated length requirement; the 13 words copied from the prompt are excluded from that count. Develop each side with clearer reasoning and specific support.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a recognisable introduction, body paragraphs and conclusion, and signposts such as “Turning towards” help indicate a change in focus. However, progression is limited: the first body paragraph moves through family time, new skills, travel and productivity without grouping or developing these points, while the next shifts to disadvantages without explicitly connecting them to the case for shorter holidays. Linking phrases such as “Although” and “However” are sometimes used in ways that make the relationship between ideas unclear. Repetition of “long vacation” and “students” also weakens flow. Organise the essay around the two questions, use topic sentences that state each paragraph’s main argument, and make links between claims and explanations more precise.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use a basic range of relevant vocabulary, including “overwhelmed,” “productive,” “drawbacks” and “hurdles,” which helps communicate the main ideas. However, vocabulary is repetitive and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, sometimes making the meaning less natural. Examples include “loveones,” “long days off from schools,” “impact on their educational background” and “start from zero.” There are also spelling errors such as “Ragarding,” “stundents,” “benfits” and “belive.” Aim for more precise phrases connected to the topic, and check spelling carefully. For instance, describe pupils as “forgetting previously learned material” rather than “forget everything,” and use “academic progress” instead of “educational background.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a conditional-style explanation and clauses introduced by “Although” and “when.” However, the range is limited, and errors occur frequently enough to make some sentences difficult to follow. Examples include “it allows students to spent time,” where the verb form is incorrect, and “long holidays makes their mood fresh,” where subject–verb agreement is faulty. In “some student become lazy,” the plural form is needed; “when they return back school” also has an incomplete grammatical pattern. Sentence boundaries and punctuation need attention, particularly in “Because both are important giving freedom and also take care of their education.” Practise accurate verb forms, agreement and complete sentence construction.

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