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)

In a lot countries the primary and the secondary schools are not opened for almostb two months or more than that during there summer holidays.In this essay i would be taking talking about the value that a long holiday holds upon the students.

Almost across the whole world the summer vaction of the students last for almost 2 or 3 months. this is the time period where the students can focus on themselves and learn new things to do. during this leasure time most of the studemts participate in outdoor activities. that is beneficail for them as it helps them to maintain a fit body. moreover helping them to not be obese which is a huge concern in the world roight now. as now the percentage of obesity is increasing rapidly . So performing outdoor acticites duyring there summer holidays would help them to avoid it. furthermore, during there summer vaction the studenmts can go on a vaction with there parents in a oversea countries. it would help them to understand new culture and broaden their mindset. going on vactions would also help the students to connect with there parents which they cant do normally. hence they would be able spend a wholesome time with there families.Doing this activities would not be possible it the duration of the holiday was shorter than 2 or 3 month.

However having a very long holiday might distract the students. it might lead to the students not being able to focus on thire assigned tasks. they might spend their whole holiday playing video games. which could lead to damage there sleeping patterns. additionally playing games throughout thier whole holiday might lead them to being lazy.which in the future could enchance the problem of obesity again. for insistance when i was younger i use to spend my whole summer holidays playing video games which eventually caused a lot of problems in my life.

so i would be preffering a shorter holidays instead of a longer holiday as it tends to disrupt your sleep cycle and makes u some what lazy . lastly it can be said that it varys from people to people bt i would alwats preffer a shorter holiday.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both parts of the question: you explain that long holidays allow students to exercise, travel, experience other cultures and spend time with family, then argue that shorter breaks may reduce distraction and excessive gaming. Your final preference for shorter holidays is also clear. However, the discussion of shorter holidays focuses mainly on possible harms of long breaks; it does not explain directly how shorter holidays benefit learning, routine or retention. Some points, such as the claim that outdoor activity prevents obesity, would be stronger with more careful explanation, and the personal example is relevant but briefly developed. Develop the comparison between the two holiday lengths more evenly and support each main claim with a specific explanation or example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, a paragraph on the value of long holidays, a contrasting paragraph about drawbacks, and a conclusion. The progression from benefits to disadvantages is generally easy to follow, and linking expressions such as “moreover,” “furthermore” and “however” help signal relationships. At times, though, these connectors are used mechanically, and several ideas run together in long sequences. The repeated references to obesity and gaming also make the development feel less controlled. Some sentence fragments, such as “which could lead to damage their sleeping patterns,” interrupt the flow. Use clearer topic sentences, divide related points into shorter units, and make pronoun references and links between claims more precise.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of vocabulary for the topic, including “outdoor activities,” “broaden their mindset,” “sleeping patterns” and “obesity.” These choices communicate the main ideas, and there are attempts to express more specific concepts than basic holiday vocabulary. However, spelling errors and inaccurate word forms are frequent enough to reduce the impression of control: examples include “vaction,” “leasure,” “studemts” and “enchance.” Some phrases are also imprecise or unnatural, such as “a wholesome time” and “a oversea countries.” Aim for accurate, natural collocations and check spelling carefully. Replacing repeated general wording such as “playing games” with more precise expressions would also make the discussion more flexible.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including clauses introduced by “as,” “which” and “when,” and the overall meaning is usually recoverable. However, control is inconsistent, particularly in longer sentences. For example, “which could lead to damage their sleeping patterns” has a faulty clause structure, while “Doing this activities would not be possible it the duration…” contains errors in demonstratives and sentence construction. There are also problems with articles, agreement and verb forms, as in “the summer vaction … last” and “i use to spend.” Sentence boundaries and capitalisation are not consistently controlled. Practise building accurate complex sentences, then proofread for agreement, articles, verb forms and punctuation.

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