Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-11-09

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 widely argued that competition or challenges at every stage of life whether it is at work or in academic purposes is a superior thing for success of an individual , some believe that cooperation in daily work instead of competing with each other is also a great way to achieve your goals . I completely agree with the first argument and believe that challenges and competition in life is only way which can lead to success .

Competitive activities in academic purposes can assure that students will achieve their goals in schools and colleges . Students will compete with each other to get a position in class which can boost their confidence and could be first stage of success they want to achieve. Meanwhile , enviornment in which every employ and other workers will work in a competitive way , this high competition will give them a sense of being promoting to new designations in future . In Pakistan , clothing business is very competitive and almost every citizen of country is involved in this sector . A business man who has more skill and experience in this field than other is more successful than other because he loves to tackle the competition environment .

In contrast , some individuals believes that cooperation is a good way to have success and accomplishment of your goals in future. Reason for there argument is that , if a cooperative environment will be created , every person can help each other and guide other . In this way competitive environment will be vanished . But in my opinion , this way will not be beneficial for other people who want to become a successful person in their life and it will result into financial barrier .

To conclude , competitive environment in daily life is only way to success and glory of an individual . Meanwhile , cooperation will only result into financial equality and not assure the rights of people who works more hard and determined .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You present a clear preference for competition, stating that it is “the only way” to achieve success, and you discuss both competition and cooperation. The school and workplace examples are relevant, and the Pakistan clothing-business example gives some specific support to your view. However, the discussion is only partial: the benefits of cooperation are described briefly, while the claim that it leads to “financial equality” or a “financial barrier” is not explained or supported. The argument for competition also relies on broad claims rather than showing how competition produces success in different situations. To strengthen the response, explain the opposing view more fully and develop each main claim with a clear reason and a concrete example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, a paragraph supporting competition, a contrasting paragraph on cooperation, and a conclusion. Transitions such as “In contrast” and “To conclude” help signal these stages. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear, and several ideas are joined without showing their precise relationship. For example, the move from students competing for a class position to workplace promotion is abrupt, while the cooperation paragraph shifts quickly from mutual help to the claim that competition will disappear. Repeated references to “success” and “competition” also make the development feel repetitive. Use clearer topic sentences and connect each example directly to the point it supports; make references such as “this way” more specific.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a range of topic-related vocabulary, including “competitive activities,” “boost their confidence,” “cooperative environment,” and “designations.” These choices show an attempt to discuss education, work, and achievement. However, vocabulary is limited in precision, and several noticeable word-choice, collocation, and spelling errors make parts of the argument less natural. Phrases such as “in academic purposes,” “being promoting,” and “tackle the competition environment” do not express the intended ideas idiomatically; “enviornment” is also misspelled. Repetition of “success,” “competition,” and “individual” further restricts the range. Build a bank of natural collocations for discussing workplace and educational competition, and check spelling and word forms during revision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including a conditional structure in “if a cooperative environment will be created” and a relative clause in “A business man who has more skill and experience…”. However, complex constructions are often faulty, and errors in agreement, articles, verb forms, and sentence boundaries occur frequently enough to affect clarity. For example, “some individuals believes” has a subject–verb agreement error, while “competition in life is only way” is missing an article. The opening sentence is also difficult to follow because several clauses are joined together with unclear punctuation. Practise building accurate sentences with one main idea at a time, then check agreement, articles, and conditional forms before combining clauses.

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