Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-08-11
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)
Some people argues that competition at work, school and in daily life is considered as a good thing. On the other hand some individual believe that we should try to cooperate more rather than competing against each other. In my opinion, I believe both the things should be on equal as in this way it can be more beneficial. This essay will compare both the views and justify my opinion.
The first segment will highlight the feature of being competitive in daily life. Firstly, in terms of school competition helps student to achieve better marks in subjects or examination and further helps them to research more regarding particular topics so it can help them further in future. Meanwhile, at work competition works as a motivation to work hard and better than others to earn more profits or promotions. For example, due to competition among the different companies , product quality increases consumer often get discount and better service in order to stand out than their rival companies.
On the other hand, some believe that rather than competing against each other and cooperate more. Because people often faces many challenges or difficulties due to competition and the rate of depression and stress also increased among the person. For instance, children often get depressed or do suicide because of not getting enough marks in competitive exams. Therefore, some believe that working together and uplifting each other provide much more benefits.
In my opinion, competition is necessary for individual development but cooperation and helping others should be considered otherwise, people get jealous of other success and rather than appreciating it and improving themselves they develop negative thoughts among themselves. Thus, it is important to have both in equal to live peaceful life.
To conclude, competition in daily life and cooperation both are equally important in development and innovations.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The essay addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both competition and cooperation and providing a clear personal opinion. The ideas are relevant, such as the mention of academic pressure and corporate innovation. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat superficial. For instance, the point about depression and suicide is a strong argument but lacks a more nuanced explanation of how cooperation specifically mitigates these issues. The position is consistent throughout, but the conclusion is quite brief and does not fully synthesize the arguments presented in the body paragraphs. To reach a higher band, you should expand on your examples with more depth and ensure the conclusion reflects the complexity of your discussion.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. You use some cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Meanwhile', 'For instance', and 'To conclude' to link ideas. However, the flow between sentences is sometimes mechanical, and there are instances where the connection between ideas is slightly abrupt, such as the transition into the second body paragraph ('On the other hand, some believe that rather than competing against each other and cooperate more'). The use of referencing is generally clear, but the essay would benefit from a wider variety of cohesive devices to improve the overall flow and logical progression of the argument.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'innovation', 'rival companies', and 'individual development'. However, there are several instances of awkward phrasing and word choice errors, such as 'both the things should be on equal' and 'rate of depression... increased among the person'. These errors do not impede communication, but they do limit the precision of your writing. To improve, focus on learning common collocations and ensuring that your word forms (e.g., singular vs. plural) are used correctly in context.
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 ('Some people argues', 'competition... are equally important') and article usage. There are also issues with sentence fragments and awkward phrasing, such as 'due to competition and the rate of depression and stress also increased among the person'. While these errors rarely prevent the reader from understanding your meaning, they occur frequently enough to impact the overall fluency and accuracy of the writing. Focusing on basic grammatical consistency will help improve your score.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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