Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-08-18

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)

Competition and cooperation are both important aspects of modern life. While some people believe that competition encourages individuals to work harder and achieve better results, while some people think cooperation can bring mutual support and shared success. In my view, competition can be valuable in certain situations, but cooperation is ultimately more important for achieving sustainable progress.

On the one hand, competition can motivate people to improve their performance. When individuals compete with others, they often set higher goals and make greater efforts to achieve them. At school, for example, students who compete for high grades may become more disciplined and develop stronger study habits. Similarly, competition between companies can encourage them to improve the quality of their products, reduce prices and introduce new ideas in order to attract customers. Without some degree of competition, people and organisations may have less reason to improve.

On the other hand, excessive competition can lead to negative impact on humans. This can cause outperforming others. At school or in the workplace. Individuals can start a rivalry between each other, which doesn't put effort on the work but, negative impact on themselves. Likely causing unnecessary problem between companies or partnerships. Ruining the cooperation between group works.

Cooperation can lead to big success as it is important that team work can bring different skills together. Many complex problems cannot be solved by an individual working alone. As an example, a project may need an engineer, a designer and manager which requires unique professions to exchange ideas. This idea implies to social problems such as, environmental protection or public health where government, business and individuals can collabrate and not be seperated.

In conclusion, competition can encourage ambition, innovation and self-improvement, particularly in education and business. However, I believe that cooperation should be given greater importance because it encourages people to share knowledge, solve problems collectively and achieve goals that would be difficult to accomplish individually. A balanced approach, in which healthy competition exists alongside strong cooperation, is therefore likely to produce the best results.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

You have addressed all parts of the prompt, discussing both the benefits of competition and the importance of cooperation while clearly stating your own position. Your ideas are relevant and generally well-supported with examples, such as the mention of school grades and professional collaboration. However, the third paragraph is somewhat underdeveloped and lacks clarity; phrases like 'This can cause outperforming others' are vague and do not fully explain the negative impacts of excessive competition. To reach a higher band, ensure that every point is fully explained with logical consequences rather than just stated. Overall, your position is consistent throughout the essay.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized, with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. You use transition signals effectively, such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusion', which helps the reader follow your argument. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas. However, some cohesive devices are used slightly mechanically, and there are minor issues with referencing, such as in the third paragraph where the connection between sentences is slightly disjointed. Improving the flow between sentences within paragraphs would enhance the overall coherence.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate a sufficient range of vocabulary to discuss the topic with some precision. You use relevant terms like 'sustainable progress', 'disciplined', and 'innovation'. There are some minor inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'This idea implies to social problems' (should be 'applies to') and 'collabrate' (spelling error). While you attempt to use less common vocabulary, the range is somewhat limited, and some phrasing is repetitive. To improve, focus on using more sophisticated collocations and ensuring accurate spelling of academic vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While many sentences are clear, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with sentence fragments and punctuation. For example, 'This can cause outperforming others. At school or in the workplace.' should be a single, fluid sentence. Additionally, there are issues with subject-verb agreement and preposition usage, such as 'doesn't put effort on the work' (should be 'into'). While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. Focusing on sentence combining and proofreading for basic errors would be beneficial.

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