Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-11-14

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)

In recent years, there has been considerable debate about whether having competition in daily life builds more accuracy and impact on individual's personality. Many people believe that challenge at work, at school, and in daily life is a good option. Whereas, others argue that stay cooperate more, rather than challenging each other. This essay will shed light on both points before presenting my own opinion.

On one hand, having competition in daily life plays a povital role in improving individual to earn good respect and quality of life. This occurs due to competing with others in offices to get promotions, in schools to achieve higher grades, and in grounds players get greater respect. Furthermore, in daily life candidates have to pay more attention on their tasks, and stay active during company meetings because every single person is trying to invest their hunderd person. As a result, this helps employees to take advantage of competition to get promotion, increment in salaries, and annual bonuses. For example, in FIFA and Cricket world cup, different teams compete with each others to win trophy.

On the other hand, cooperation also plays a major role in peoples' lives and enable them to stay focused and removes their tension. This happens because in offices during team work workers need to be stay cooperative rather than taking other works. Similarly, in play grounds players must be able to understand others difficulties, especially when someone is suffering from injuries. As a result, this causes many good relationships in schools, offices, and playgrounds. For instance, many primary schools around the world have introduced the concept of helping each others in different tasks.

In a nutshell, it can be clearly argued that cooperation improves peoples' lives but competition helps them to stay active and strong, and enable them to fulfil their requirements. Therefore, based on the points discussed above, I strongly believe challenges in daily life improves community quality of life is an appropraite way to live a better future.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You discuss both competition and cooperation and give a clear preference for competition in the conclusion, so the response addresses the main parts of the prompt. The examples of workplace promotions, school grades and team sports are relevant. However, the position is not fully consistent: the introduction says you will present an opinion, but the conclusion’s claim that competition improves community life is difficult to reconcile with the earlier statement that cooperation reduces tension and builds relationships. Several points are asserted rather than explained—for example, how competition improves “quality of life” or how cooperation removes tension. Develop each view with a clearer cause-and-effect explanation and make your own position explicit throughout.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a coherent overall arrangement: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two views, and a conclusion. Signposts such as “On one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “In a nutshell” make the structure easy to follow. However, some links are mechanical, and the progression within paragraphs is occasionally unclear. For example, the sentence about candidates paying attention to tasks moves quickly to meetings and then to bonuses without explaining the connection. The sports example also does not clearly support the preceding point about respect and quality of life. Use fewer formulaic transitions and connect each example directly to the claim it illustrates; clearer referencing would also help readers follow ideas such as “this” and “this happens.”

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some topic-related vocabulary, including “competition,” “cooperate,” “promotions,” “grades,” and “relationships,” and you attempt more formal expressions such as “plays a major role.” However, the range is limited by repetition and several inaccurate or unnatural word choices that sometimes make meaning difficult to interpret. Phrases such as “builds more accuracy and impact on individual's personality,” “invest their hunderd person,” and “taking other works” do not express the intended ideas clearly. There are also spelling errors, including “povital,” “hunderd,” and “appropraite.” Aim for precise, natural collocations and check spelling; for example, describe employees as “giving their best effort” rather than using the unclear phrase about investing a percentage.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, using structures such as “This occurs due to…” and “especially when someone is suffering from injuries.” However, complex sentences are often not controlled accurately, and recurring errors can make the reader pause. Examples include “others argue that stay cooperate more,” where the verb pattern is incomplete, and “workers need to be stay cooperative,” which combines incompatible verb forms. Subject–verb agreement is also inconsistent in “challenges in daily life improves” and “cooperation … enable.” Articles, plurals and sentence boundaries need attention as well. Practise building accurate clauses first, then combine them; check that each subject matches its verb and that verbs after “need to” use the base form.

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