Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-11-03

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)

Worldwide primary and secondary schools offers atleast two months summer vaccations for childern. The most improtant benefit of these long holidays is that it is essential for mental and physical recovery of a student. However, shorth term holidays are advantageous as childern get more time for studies.

In most of the nations schools provide two months summer holidays for students. These vaccations are necessary for both students and teachers, they both get a berak after a year and can focus on their mental and physical health recovery. In these holidays students get a break from their academic stress. A burden of exams and tests get off from their mid in these holidays. Students can participate in their favourate activities such as swimming, dancing and singing or also they can spend time with their family menbers and relatives. And they can learn new skills in these holidays.

On the opposite side, short term holidays also offers many significants to the students and one of the considerable advantage is students can get more time for studies. After a long gap becausse of vaccations students have to prepare for mid term exams and most of the time students do not get proper time to study full syllabus. And shorter school holidays are the perfect solution of it. Since, students spend much time for their exams if summer vaccations are more minimal as they are normally.

To conclude, both short and long school holidays are consider benefical for students. And both have their own merits amd demerits. So, it totally depent on students which one they prefer more heplful. As, they have to spend their time.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions and give a relevant central contrast: long holidays allow recovery from academic stress, while shorter breaks may leave more time for study. The first body paragraph supports the value of longer holidays with examples such as swimming, singing and spending time with family. However, the case for shorter holidays is less fully explained: the claim that students lack time to prepare for mid-term exams after a long break would benefit from a clearer explanation or a specific example. Your conclusion says both options have merits, but “it totally depent on students” does not establish a clear, reasoned view about which benefits matter most. Develop the comparison and make your final position more definite to address the task more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two sides and a conclusion. The progression from the benefits of long holidays to the case for shorter ones is generally easy to follow, and phrases such as “On the opposite side” signal the change in focus. However, some connections are mechanical or unclear. For example, “Since” begins a sentence without a complete main clause, and “And they can learn new skills” is an awkward continuation of the preceding point. The conclusion’s final sentence, “As, they have to spend their time,” does not clearly connect to the argument. Use linking expressions more accurately and make each paragraph’s ideas build on one another.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “academic stress,” “mental and physical health” and “mid term exams,” and the examples of activities help make the discussion specific. However, the range is limited and several noticeable spelling and word-choice errors reduce precision, including “vaccations,” “favourate,” “significants” and “benefical.” Some expressions are also unnatural, such as “a burden of exams and tests get off from their mid” and “shorter school holidays are the perfect solution of it.” Aim to learn accurate collocations and check spelling carefully. More precise phrases for recovery, study time and exam preparation would help you express the ideas clearly without relying on repeated general terms such as “holidays” and “students.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a reason clause in “Since, students spend much time for their exams…” and a sentence explaining that holidays help students recover. However, complex constructions are often faulty, and errors occur frequently enough to make some sentences difficult to follow. For example, “schools offers” has subject–verb disagreement, while “These vacations are necessary for both students and teachers, they both get a break” joins two independent clauses incorrectly. The final sentence beginning “As” is also incomplete. Practise accurate agreement, sentence boundaries and complete clauses, especially when using connectors such as “since” and “as.”

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