Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-08-15

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 6.0)

Whilst it is often argued that, competitiveness in every aspect of our life is a positive attitude as it helps to reach goals faster, i believe helping each other instead is better, because this way we can be more considerate towards weaker individual.

On the one hand, competitiveness in specific steps in life is crucial because every human being has expectations and goals that they believe would make them better than others. Consequently, they become willing to face challenges, sometimes hurt people and beat rivals in order to reach goal faster than others. This gives them a sense of ownership. Since it make people more disciplined towards goals and fulfils one's dream of being successful most of the times, it is considered as good thing by many. For example, competition in sports like football usually makes a team practice significantly until they win for their home country.

On the other hand, too much rivalry against each other sometimes hurt struggling individuals who tend to doubt themselves more during the process. By being more considerate towards them, we can turn them into assets and these people ultimately can bring more fortune to our society. Therefore, we should be more cooperative towards each other helping those who are weaker. This way we can create more harmony and less violence in the society. For instance, in Football an assist can be turned into a goal if the whole team plays towards winning as a team rather than competing against each other over goal.

In conclusion, although competitions at organization, educational institution and in everyday life is necessary to be better than others, being helpful is equally important as it will assist weak individuals creating a sense of harmony in the society for the betterment of everyone.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses both sides of the argument and provides a clear personal opinion in the introduction and conclusion. The ideas are relevant, such as the mention of sports and societal harmony. However, the development is somewhat limited. For instance, the point about 'hurt people' in the second paragraph is mentioned but not fully explained or exemplified. The conclusion is a bit repetitive, restating the prompt rather than synthesizing the main points. To reach a higher band, ensure that each supporting idea is fully explored with more specific detail or a more nuanced explanation of the 'why' behind the arguments.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized into clear paragraphs, each with a distinct focus. Cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand', 'Consequently', and 'Therefore' are used effectively to guide the reader through the argument. However, there are minor issues with referencing and flow; for example, the transition between the idea of 'ownership' and the sports example is slightly abrupt. Additionally, some sentences feel a bit mechanical in their structure. Overall, the progression of ideas is clear, and the paragraphing is appropriate for the task.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express ideas clearly. There are some attempts at less common vocabulary, such as 'considerate', 'disciplined', and 'harmony'. However, there are occasional inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'competitiveness in specific steps in life' (which is slightly unnatural) and 'make them better than others' (which is a bit simplistic). The range is sufficient to convey meaning, but more precise and sophisticated vocabulary would be needed to reach a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is always clear, there are several grammatical errors, such as 'it make people' (subject-verb agreement), 'hurt struggling individuals' (missing auxiliary verb), and 'competitions... is necessary' (subject-verb agreement). Punctuation is generally functional, though there are some unnecessary commas, such as after 'Whilst it is often argued that,'. The errors do not impede communication, but they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. Increasing the variety of complex structures while ensuring accuracy would improve this score.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.