Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-11-10

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 5.0)

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. In my opinion, we should not compete with each other instead we should try to cooperate more with each other.

Competition is not a good thing in my opinion because I think every one is different from one another and the working tendency of every human's brain is also different. So when we try to compete we each other instead of just working hard we sometimes over work our brain which then even forgets what we learned and this can be a cause of failure. We should focus on ourselves and our goals instead of other people life goals. Because when we focus on other people's life we loose the meaning of our life and there is no point in having such a meaning less and and no goal of your own life. For instance, when cousins study in same school their parents force them to get better position than their other cousin. In this way, they force him to study day and night and stop their other activities which can cause the child to feel burden and depressed. He then starts to despise study and it can be a major reason of his failure. So competition at work, at school and in daily life is not a good thing.

I personally believe that we should try to cooperate more with each other rather than competing against each other because when you help others in learning something which you already know this can help you in memorizing that thing even better and that might stay in your brain for a very long time. Also helping others is a very good thing it makes you feel spiritually better. I think you should help others so that they can also succeed with you instead of failing and being depressed. Depression can sometimes lead to sucide. If you can help someone overcome it by helping them you must do it. You can save a life by doing so which is the greatest deed someone can do.

In my conclusion, there should not be any competition at work or at school becuase every one is different from each other and they should be allowed to live that way and we should help each other so we can make every one's life more easy.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

You give a clear opinion in favour of cooperation and explain why you see competition as harmful, using the example of cousins pressured by their parents. However, the task asks you to discuss both views, and the benefits of competition are not explained: the response mainly argues against it. The cooperation paragraph gives relevant reasons, such as helping someone learn and feel supported, but the point about depression and suicide is asserted rather than carefully connected to cooperation. To develop the response more fully, explain a genuine advantage of competition—for example, how it can motivate people to improve—and then weigh this against the benefits of cooperation. The 50 words copied from the prompt were not counted.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction states your position, separate paragraphs develop your concerns about competition and your support for cooperation, and a conclusion restates your view. Examples also help readers follow the main points. However, progression is limited because the discussion of competition repeats the same conclusion, and the opposing view is not given its own developed treatment. Some links are awkward or unclear, such as “Because when we focus on other people's life,” which begins a fragment, and “In this way” does not clearly identify the specific pressure being discussed. Use clearer topic sentences, connect each example explicitly to its claim, and organise the discussion of both views before concluding.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough everyday vocabulary to communicate your main ideas, including “cooperate,” “compete,” “memorizing,” “burden,” and “depressed.” Some wording also conveys your position clearly, such as “focus on ourselves and our goals.” However, the range is limited and several expressions are repetitive or imprecise, including repeated uses of “good thing” and “help others.” There are also noticeable spelling and word-form errors, such as “loose” for “lose,” “sucide,” and “meaning less,” which reduce accuracy. Aim for more precise vocabulary to describe the effects of competition and cooperation, and check spelling and collocations carefully. This would make the argument clearer and less repetitive.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt some longer sentences using clauses with “because,” “when,” and “which,” and the overall meaning is usually understandable. However, complex sentences are often faulty, and errors occur frequently enough to make parts of the argument difficult to follow. For example, “when we try to compete we each other” has an incomplete grammatical pattern, while “Because when we focus…” is a sentence fragment. In “they force him to study … and stop their other activities,” the pronouns do not agree clearly, and several sentences run together without effective punctuation. Practise building accurate sentences with one main clause and a clearly attached supporting clause, then check pronoun reference, agreement, and sentence boundaries.

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