Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-11-06

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)

The passage above includes the comparison and competition in daily life, work life and study life among people and how it can be beneficial or harmful for the people. Many people can think that professional competition can be beneficial for growth, learning new skills and teamwork meanwhile many people can highly disagree with the statement and have opposite opinions.

To begin with, let's discuss the advantages of professional competition. if we think about it, professional competition can be very useful for the people who are inexperienced. It opens up the space for learning new skills, trying new things and try to be better than the rest.

For instance, if a student wants to be the topper of the class, to prove they can be better, they will start putting extra efforts and try to revise their course as many times as possible to master their subject. if we talk about the office workers, it's not much different. In offices, people tend to learn new skills to appear better. They can spend more time working and learning to have better experiences and unlock their best potential.

On the other hands, the competition can be a very unhealthy trait as well. If it can help in growth, it can also be very hectic on some people.

Let's take an example of two students competing for the title of top student of the class. We can always see a rivalry between two students who want to appear as the best. This can lead to many toxic hazards of the society, for example, taking stress can effect a person's mental health and in some cases physical health and losing appetite. Moreover, a toxic competition can lead to bullying other person for the sake of appearing the best which can compromise their mental health and make the other people feel cornered and vulnerable, destroying the healthy environment of the institutions. On the other hand, the continuous burden to appear thw best can give the workers alot of stress and can feel like a burden and suffocating in some cases.

To conclude this, we can say healthy competition and comparison can be beneficial for growth and promote teamwork meanwhile an unhealthy comparison can lead to even risking other person's mental health and causes alot of work stress.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You discuss benefits and drawbacks of competition, using examples from students and office workers, and your conclusion favours healthy competition while warning against harmful rivalry. This gives the response a relevant overall direction. However, the prompt asks you to discuss cooperation as an alternative, and cooperation is barely addressed: “teamwork” appears in the opening and conclusion but is not explained or illustrated. The response therefore focuses mainly on competition rather than fully comparing both views. Some points, such as learning skills and the effects of stress, are relevant but remain general or are repeated without much explanation. To strengthen the response, explain how cooperation helps people achieve shared goals and state more clearly how you weigh it against competition.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, paragraphs presenting benefits and harms, and a conclusion. Signposts such as “To begin with,” “On the other hand,” and “To conclude” help readers follow the broad direction. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes loose, and the discussion moves from competition to stress and bullying without consistently linking each example back to the main argument. The repeated use of “On the other hand” also makes the connections feel mechanical, while “meanwhile” joins ideas that are not clearly contrasted. The introduction and conclusion repeat similar claims rather than bringing the two views together. Use clearer topic sentences and develop each paragraph around one central point, including a distinct paragraph on cooperation.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of vocabulary for the topic, including “inexperienced,” “rivalry,” “potential,” “vulnerable,” and “mental health.” These choices help communicate both the motivating and harmful effects of competition. However, several phrases are imprecise or unnatural, such as “toxic hazards of the society,” “appear the best,” and “unlock their best potential.” There are also noticeable spelling and word-form errors, including “alot” and “thw,” which reduce accuracy. Some key words, particularly “competition,” “people,” and “best,” recur frequently. Aim for more precise collocations and vary repeated terms; for example, describe competition as “unhealthy rivalry” and say that workers “develop their potential.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more extended sentence forms, including conditional structures such as “If it can help in growth, it can also be very hectic on some people” and clauses explaining consequences. Meaning is generally understandable, but errors occur often enough to make some sentences awkward. Examples include “many people can think,” where the modal is unsuitable, “they will start putting extra efforts,” and “the continuous burden … can give the workers alot of stress and can feel like a burden,” where the subject relationship is unclear. Sentence-initial “if” is repeatedly left uncapitalised, and punctuation around long sentences is inconsistent. Practise building accurate complex sentences, checking that each clause has a clear subject, and reviewing verb forms, articles, and sentence boundaries.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.