Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-08-23

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 today's era of growing economy competition, jealousy and comparison is part of everyone's life but here I want to mark that cooperate more with each other will benefit both person and you can grow more.

In one hand, competitions and politics are everywhere whether is is school college or office space, everyone is trying to compete with each other and I've seen some people try to snatch the work credits as well which is going on and in that situation I think competition is the only way to get the work credit which you deserve and you should get promoted for that work, that is healthy competition but if anyone is trying to take it on ego and competing with others is not a health competition, there will be the chances of threats as well.

On the other hand, cooperating is the thing I mostly believe in and I think that catching up with someone with same mind of you will help you to grow and also led you to gain more real-world experiences along with expertise, but the catch is cooperating doesn't mean to trust anyone blindly, it does mean to stay aware and try to detect the person first, look at their nature, way of talk, their expression after all looks good then only trust them, always remind that the right person's company will led you to success and wrong cooperation will led you to major failure, so choose person wisely.

In conclusion, competition is needed where it is needed but cooperating is the thing which will not make anyone egoistic and will also led you to real-world experience.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both sides of the argument and provides a personal opinion. However, the development of ideas is somewhat superficial. For instance, the discussion on competition focuses heavily on 'work credits' and 'ego', while the section on cooperation relies on personal advice about 'detecting the person' rather than exploring broader societal or professional benefits. The position is clear, but the arguments lack the depth and academic support required for higher bands. To improve, you should provide more concrete examples or logical explanations for why cooperation might be more effective in a globalized or educational context.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is somewhat mechanical and occasionally inaccurate. For example, 'In one hand' is a misuse of the phrase 'On the one hand'. Transitions between sentences are sometimes abrupt, and the flow of ideas within paragraphs could be smoother. The referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the third paragraph where the pronoun 'it' is used repeatedly without a clear antecedent, making the logic slightly difficult to track.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and range expected at higher levels. There is a reliance on basic phrasing, such as 'good thing' and 'bad thing', and some word choices are unnatural, such as 'growing economy competition' or 'catching up with someone with same mind of you'. There are also minor errors in collocation, such as 'led you to success' (should be 'lead'). To reach a higher band, you should incorporate more topic-specific vocabulary related to professional and academic environments.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede the flow. Common issues include subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'cooperate more... will benefit'), missing articles, and incorrect verb forms (e.g., 'led' instead of 'lead'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, with several run-on sentences that lack proper conjunctions or full stops. While the meaning is generally clear, the frequency of these errors prevents the essay from reaching a higher band score.

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