Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-11-05

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people think that competition at work, at school and in daily life is a good thing. Others believe that we should try to cooperate more, rather than competing against each other.

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Many people argue that competition in personal,educational, and professional life is good, while others think that people should practice to cooperate instead of competing with each other. I believe that there should be teamwork instead of thinking about coming first. This essay will discuss both views and give reasons accordingly.

For people who believe there should be competition think that competition keeps one motivated to work. Some people perform better under the stress of failure. For example, for students, competition is the only thing that motivates them to get good marks from one another. Competition has its own reasons in daily basis, but it's not always necessary. It causes a tense and negative environment where everyone wants to come first, and no one help the other in solving their issue.

On the other hand, people who believe that people should cooperate instead of competing say so because competition promotes negative behaviors such as jealousy. Instead of competing, if people try to work together, it will be more effective. A learning environment develops where everyone gets an equal chance to learn and present their ideas. It also helps in personal habit development, such as teamwork skills, appreciating others ideas, open to share and learn. For example, if people start to work together in an office, many hurdles will be resolved, and everyone will benefit.

I believe that instead of competition, there should be teamwork. This develops a positive and healthy environment where everyone can grow personally and professionally.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both sides of the discussion and state a clear preference for teamwork, so the response is relevant to the task. The points about competition motivating students and cooperation reducing jealousy are appropriate, and the office example supports your view. However, the discussion is brief and several ideas are asserted rather than explained: for instance, you say competition is “the only thing” that motivates students, but do not qualify or develop this claim. The benefits of cooperation are listed, such as teamwork skills and sharing ideas, without showing in detail how they improve outcomes. The response is also three words below the required minimum. Develop each side with fuller reasoning and a more specific example to address the task more completely.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay has a recognisable structure: an introduction, a paragraph for each view, and a concluding opinion. Transitions such as “On the other hand” help signal the shift between perspectives, and the conclusion returns to your central preference. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear or repetitive. The first body paragraph moves from motivation to a negative environment without a clear link explaining how these points relate. The phrase “For people who believe there should be competition think” is also an awkward opening that makes the relationship between the topic and the claim difficult to follow. Use clearer topic sentences, connect examples directly to the point they illustrate, and avoid repeating the same contrast between competition and cooperation.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “competition,” “motivated,” “negative environment,” “jealousy,” and “teamwork skills.” Some phrases also show an attempt to express more specific concepts, such as “personal and professional” growth. However, the range is limited and several choices or combinations sound unnatural, including “practice to cooperate,” “in daily basis,” and “personal habit development.” The repeated use of “competition,” “people,” and “work together” also limits flexibility. Aim to learn natural collocations and use more precise alternatives where appropriate; for example, describe competition as encouraging people to “strive for better results,” rather than saying it is “the only thing” that motivates them.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including conditional structures such as “if people try to work together” and a relative clause in “where everyone gets an equal chance.” These help communicate your ideas, but control is inconsistent, and some sentence patterns are incomplete or contain agreement and punctuation errors. For example, “For people who believe there should be competition think” lacks a clear grammatical structure, while “no one help the other” has a subject–verb agreement error. In “appreciating others ideas, open to share and learn,” the list is not grammatically parallel. Review sentence construction, agreement, possessives, and comma spacing, and practise building accurate complex sentences before adding further clauses.

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