Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

Competition between people is one of the ways to survive. People compete with their classfellows, colleagues, and friends in different fields of daily life. Some people have positive thoughts about competition while many others feel satisfaction in cooperating and growing together.

In my opinion, competition can be a good or a bad thing. It depends on the senario in which people are trying to compete as well as the competitors. For example, competing in education is a good thing. Most of the time, competition encourages students to work hard and it foster the learning capabilities of students. Another example is the strong influence it has in sports. Comptition between players make them do more practice and it leads physical and mental fitness. But this competition should solely be limited to a person or a team itself, if it is leading to demean others or providing harm to competitors then this is not a positive aspect.

In other case, If there is a mutual benefit then there should be more cooperation than competition. Finding the causes and cure to COVID-19 is the best example. Whem people have big problems and shortage of time, they want greater and high-impact strategies and solutions, there should be more cooperation between them. Competing with each other during these cases will result in delayed solution.

In conclusion, competition is not a good or bad thing itself. It is the people, who make it good or bad. It depends on many factors involving competition cause, achievement, strategy used to win, competitors etc.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You discuss both competition and cooperation and give a clear, qualified view: competition can be beneficial, but cooperation is preferable when people face shared problems. The education and sports examples support the benefits of competition, while the COVID-19 example illustrates the value of cooperation. This addresses the task, but the two views are not developed equally: cooperation is explained mainly through one example, and the discussion could clarify why people value cooperation in workplaces, schools, or everyday relationships. Your position that the effects depend on the situation is relevant, though the conclusion mostly repeats it rather than drawing together the arguments. Develop the less-supported view with a reason and a specific example to make the response more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph on competition, one on cooperation, and a conclusion. Ideas generally progress in a logical order, and signposts such as “For example,” “In other case,” and “In conclusion” help readers follow the argument. This meets the lower-band expectations securely and shows some features of stronger organisation. However, the linking can feel mechanical, and the relationship between points is not always made explicit. For instance, the shift from competition in sports to the warning about harming competitors could be connected more smoothly. The cooperation paragraph also moves quickly from mutual benefit to COVID-19 without explaining the link in detail. Use a wider range of natural transitions and clearer references between sentences.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including topic-related terms such as “competitors,” “cooperation,” “mutual benefit,” and “high-impact strategies.” There are also attempts at more specific phrasing, such as “demean others” and “learning capabilities.” However, the range is limited in places, and several word-choice, collocation, and spelling problems reduce precision: “classfellows” is unusual in this context, “do more practice” is not natural phrasing, and “senario” and “Comptition” are misspelled. “Competition between players make them” also contains a form error, but the vocabulary issue is the choice of “competition between players” as the subject. Aim for more natural collocations and check spelling carefully; this will make your meaning more precise and fluent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including conditional structures such as “if it is leading to demean others” and a contrast introduced by “while.” Most ideas remain understandable, but some grammatical errors occur. For example, “it foster” should have subject–verb agreement, and “competition between players make” also needs a singular verb. The sentence beginning “But this competition should solely be limited…” is awkwardly joined to the following conditional clause, while “In other case, If…” has an unnecessary capital letter after the comma and an unclear sentence opening. These issues do not generally prevent understanding, but they limit accuracy. Practise agreement, sentence boundaries, and more controlled complex clauses while retaining the variety you already attempt.

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.