Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-11-07

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)

It is often argued that competition at work, at institute and in routine life is, while others believed that they should try to cooperate more instead of competing against each other. From my perspective, i believe that competition in schools and in our daily life helps us to increase our strengths because competition teach us how to win and work hard for achievements.

On the one hand, some people believe because that competition at work or at schools helps many students to build their strengths and skills against other candidate that are participating. The main reason is that competition develop the people ability of skills and increased the motivation of their skills and games. For example, in school many activities are happening, students are interested to participate in competition where they learn how to play and win against the challengers. It basically show the candidate that they could have chance to show their abilities. Many of people or student who are champions in games, therefore through these competition they could have chance to prove their skills.

On the other hand, other argue that cooperation is more better than competing against each other. This is because in competition make jealousy in between them, and sometimes they even fight which is bigger issue. For instance, students who are participating in competitions many of students were divided in groups, therefore they started making jealousy with each other. I personally agree with this view because cooperative is the major skills in school and in companies it helps people to work together efficiently.

In conclusion, although both views have their own merits, i believe that competition is very beneficial for the people specially for student because challenges helped them to work hard and learn skill, and also have chance to show their performance.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You discuss both competition and cooperation and give a personal view, so the response addresses the main parts of the prompt. Your position, however, is not fully consistent: the introduction favours competition, the cooperation paragraph says “I personally agree with this view,” and the conclusion returns to competition. This makes your overall opinion difficult to identify. The competition argument includes relevant examples about students developing skills and demonstrating ability, but these points are repeated and not explained in much depth. The cooperation side is less developed, focusing mainly on jealousy and conflict rather than explaining the benefits of working together. State one clear position and support each side with distinct, developed reasons and examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two views, and a conclusion. Signposting such as “On the one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “In conclusion” helps readers follow the broad organisation. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear, and ideas are repeated—for example, the competition paragraph returns several times to students proving or showing their skills. Some links are mechanical or do not express the intended relationship clearly, as in “therefore they started making jealousy.” References such as “they” and “these competition” can also leave the reader unsure what is being referred to. Organise each paragraph around one main claim, then explain it and give one focused example; use linking words only when their logical relationship is clear.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “competition,” “cooperate,” “motivation,” “jealousy,” and “efficiently,” and the meaning is generally recoverable. However, the range is limited and several words or phrases are repeated, particularly “skills,” “students,” and “competition.” Some choices are inaccurate or unnatural, such as “at institute,” “increase our strengths,” “making jealousy,” and “cooperative is the major skills.” These expressions sometimes make the intended meaning less clear. Build a more precise set of topic-related collocations, such as “develop abilities,” “foster teamwork,” and “create resentment,” and check whether nouns, verbs, and adjectives fit the sentence. This would make your arguments clearer and less repetitive.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including clauses introduced by “because,” “where,” and “although.” However, the range is limited, and complex constructions are often faulty. For example, the opening sentence lacks a complete, balanced structure (“It is often argued that … is, while others believed…”), while “competition teach us” and “competition develop” show subject–verb agreement errors. There are also problems with articles, plurals, and sentence construction, as in “in competition make jealousy” and “many of people or student.” Capitalisation and punctuation are inconsistent, including lowercase “i.” These errors can make some sentences difficult to follow. Practise building accurate subject–verb sentences first, then add subordinate clauses, checking agreement, articles, and punctuation.

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