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)

Most countries, have the tratidion to close secondary, and primary schools for two months or more. This is often called a summer holiday. Which I think is one of the most important things in secondary and primary school system. and I will explain why, we will also get into how shorter school holidays could have good effects.

In secondary, and primary school it is the known to be the first times where a young person, could experince stress, however they usually get used to it and can easily look forward to the summer holiday, which makes it a little bit easier for them to bear. If school holidays were to be short, I think it could effect youngsters negativly. If a young person is forced to study without a good long vacation, this could take out of their life experince it could also effect their social skills, and they might never develop hobbies, or get many friends that would last. I think what makes a friendship in primary or secondary is when school holidays start, and the young people can go out with their friends and start new hobbies that last, and actually learn about each other. It could also drive them to work too hard, and it might make it harder from to actually understand anything. In order for people to learn they need their time to relax and reset. If the school holiday were too short, this could lead them to not do much during the holidays. The reason kids are excited to go back to school after summer holidays is, because they felt like they had relaxed enough. So taken away from that experince might make them less excited to learn again.

On the ther hand, short school holidays, has its positive sides. For example if school holidays were to become shorter kids could kove up classes faster, and finish school faster which could lead them to go to university in better times and graduate in a young age. It also helps kids to keep to a strict scheaduale and to learn to appreciate their holidays and to use their time wisely.

In conclusion, both have their pros and cons and I think that both have good reasons to work, however different systems work better for different people so if needing to vhoose one over another we need to look at the youngsters in school and their needs

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions and maintain a broadly clear view that long breaks help students rest, socialise and develop interests, while shorter breaks may support faster progression and routine. These are relevant points, especially the explanation that rest can help students return ready to learn. However, the discussion is uneven: the value of long holidays receives much more attention, while the case for shorter holidays is limited mainly to moving up classes faster and using time wisely. Some claims, such as that shorter holidays could prevent friendships or hobbies from developing, need clearer reasoning or a concrete example. Develop both sides more evenly and make your final preference explicit rather than concluding that different systems suit different people.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph focused on long holidays, a contrasting paragraph on shorter holidays, and a conclusion. The transition “On the other hand” helps signal the change in viewpoint, and ideas within the main paragraph generally follow a related theme. However, the first body paragraph is very long and contains several points—stress, friendships, hobbies, workload and readiness to learn—without clear separation. Some links are repetitive, particularly repeated uses of “I think” and “could,” and the opening contains sentence fragments such as “Which I think…” and “and I will explain why.” Use clearer topic sentences, divide related ideas into manageable units, and make references between sentences more precise.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “summer holiday,” “social skills,” “hobbies,” “strict schedule” and “graduate.” There are also attempts to express more specific concepts, such as students needing time to “relax and reset.” However, the range is limited and several words or phrases are repeated, especially “young people,” “school holidays” and “could.” Spelling errors such as “experince,” “negativly,” “scheaduale” and “vhoose” are noticeable, while phrases such as “in better times” and “take out of their life experience” are unclear or unnatural. Choose more precise collocations and proofread spelling so that your ideas are easier to follow.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more extended sentence forms, including conditional structures such as “If school holidays were to become shorter…” and a reason clause beginning “In order for people to learn…”. These attempts show some range, but complex sentences are often not controlled successfully, and errors occur frequently enough to make parts of the response difficult to read. For example, “Most countries, have…” has incorrect punctuation, while “Which I think…” is an incomplete sentence. In “it is the known to be the first times,” the structure and agreement are faulty; “it might make it harder from to actually understand anything” also has an unclear grammatical pattern. Practise complete sentence construction, agreement, articles and punctuation, then check each sentence for a clear subject and verb.

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