Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

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

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)

Competition is a thing where we can notice everywhere.When it comes to competition one school argues that competition in daily life is a good thing. Another school argues that instead of competing we should try to cooperate more with each other. However I am of the opinion that inspite of a few draw backs competition in daily life is a good thing.

Competition in daily life such as at work, at school can be a good thing because the competition between two people or two group of people will help them to increase their potential and intelligence and the competiton will push people beyond their limits to do the work better than other people and help them to reach higher level for example at work place if people are competing against each other to finish the work or do the work correctly, then work will be finished soon and the company will get good reputation and the person who did the most most or completed the working without any mistakes or errors may get a huge reward at sometimes may even get a hike in their salaries.Most importantly this competition should be in a health way amoung the people.

Cooperating with other people at work place can be usefull when the two employees share the work by divide the work into each halfs which will help them to finish the work fast and also complete it without any mistakeand this cooperation between then will improve their teamwork skills, management skills,and leardership skills.Cooperating in every work can also be a bad thing because if people cooperate to the works which they are not supposed to do they may have a lot of burden on them from the higher officials to finish their work.

To conclude that the competition in daily life is a health and good thing because it help the people to level up thei skills and knowledge.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response discusses both competition and cooperation and gives a clear overall preference for competition, especially in the introduction and conclusion. The workplace example about employees finishing tasks and potentially receiving a reward helps explain why competition may be beneficial. However, the discussion is uneven: the benefits of competition receive more explanation, while cooperation is described mainly as dividing work and improving teamwork. The claim that cooperation can create a burden from higher officials is not clearly connected to why cooperation itself is harmful. To strengthen the response, develop both views with equally clear reasoning and examples, and explain more precisely how your examples support your position.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two views, and a conclusion. This helps the reader follow the broad direction of the argument. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes difficult to track because several ideas are joined into long sentences, particularly in the competition paragraph. Linking phrases such as “However” and “To conclude” are used, but connections between claims are not always clear; for example, the shift from cooperation improving teamwork to creating a burden needs explanation. Some wording also makes references unclear, such as “the two employees” and “they” in the cooperation paragraph. Use shorter, more focused sentences and make each paragraph’s sequence of claims explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The response uses some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “potential,” “teamwork skills,” “management skills,” and “higher officials.” However, the range is limited and several words or phrases are repeated, especially “competition,” “work,” and “good thing.” There are also noticeable spelling and word-choice errors, such as “competiton,” “usefull,” “health way,” and “level up thei skills,” which reduce precision and can make the reader pause. Some combinations are unnatural, including “finish the work fast” and “a hike in their salaries.” Build a wider set of accurate expressions for discussing benefits and drawbacks, and check spelling and collocations carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The essay attempts complex sentences, including clauses beginning with “because” and “if,” and it uses some simple sentences to state the main position. However, the range is limited, and complex sentences are often difficult to control. For example, the long sentence beginning “Competition in daily life such as at work” contains several ideas without clear sentence boundaries, while “it help the people” has a subject–verb agreement error. Other problems include “by divide the work” and “which will help them,” where the grammatical form or reference is unclear. Punctuation and spacing are also inconsistent. Practise building complex sentences around one main idea, checking agreement and verb forms, and separating independent clauses with appropriate punctuation.

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