Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-08-09

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 often argued that competition in workplace, education and in everything of life has a positive effect,but others think that cooperation is better than competition.

In my opinion, although healthy competion is a good thing because it motivates people to work hard and improve their performance, cooperation encourages people to do work together and support each other. Overall, cooperation is more beneficial because it motivates people to work as a team and build good relationships with each other.

On the one side, healthy competition motivates the people to do hard work, polish their skills and improve their performance. For Example: When students have to compete their classmates, they do more hard work and study seriously to gain good marks. For instance, employees do more hardwork when they find competition at the workplace to win the promotion and bonuses.

As a result, healthy competitions are always good because it always motivates people to work hard and improve their performance.

On the other side, Cooperation creates teamwork among people. When different minds give different ideas on a query then we have best options to select the better one. It also improves employees relationships with each other. For Example: When employees work together, they find different ideas, support each other and solve the diffcult projects successfully.

As a result, Cooperation is much more important because it not only creates teamwork but also builds good relationships among employees.

In my opinion, Healthy competion is a good thing because it motivates people to improves their skills and do work hard to stay competitive in the market. Although, cooperation promotes teamwork among people. Overall, Cooperation is more beneficial because it creates teamwork and builds good relationships among people.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both sides of the argument and provides a clear personal opinion. However, the development of ideas is somewhat repetitive. For instance, the argument that competition motivates people is repeated almost verbatim in the introduction, the first body paragraph, and the conclusion. While the task is addressed, the supporting points lack depth and variety. To reach a higher band, you should aim to extend your ideas with more specific examples or nuanced reasoning rather than restating the same point multiple times. The position is consistent, but the overall development remains quite basic.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, and there is a clear progression of ideas. You use basic cohesive devices such as 'On the one side', 'On the other side', and 'For example' to link your thoughts. However, the transitions are somewhat mechanical and repetitive. The use of 'As a result' at the end of each body paragraph is formulaic and does not always logically follow the preceding sentences. To improve, try to vary your linking words and ensure that your sentences flow more naturally into one another rather than relying on a rigid structure.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks range and precision. You rely on simple, high-frequency words like 'good', 'hard work', and 'people'. There are also some minor spelling errors, such as 'competion' and 'diffcult'. While your meaning is always clear, the lack of more sophisticated or academic vocabulary limits your score. To improve, focus on using more precise synonyms and collocations, such as 'foster collaboration' instead of 'creates teamwork' or 'drive performance' instead of 'improve performance'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While you attempt complex sentences, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement and article usage (e.g., 'in workplace', 'compete their classmates', 'improves their skills'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, with some missing spaces after commas. While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding your message, they are frequent enough to impact the overall fluency of the writing. Focusing on proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy would significantly improve your score.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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