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)

Most people argue that competition at work place, among students and in daily activities is a positive development. But others believe that instead of competing each other its better to cooperate.

First off, i completely agree with the notation of cooperation is more important than competition . with out team work or help from a friend , family, or co-worker things may get a lot harder to understand. For example, school children that got newly enrolled into their class may face many difficulties on their first day of school for them making friends or communicating with the teachers may be a big problem if they are shy or do not have proper communication skills.

Secondly, competetion is as much important as cooperation.

Competition helps people to improve themselves in a good way such as someone that is bad at reading or writing may try to work harder if he or she someone else with better hand writing and reading skills which gets them a lot of attention and praise from the teachers and thier classmates it may turn a switch in the lacking person to work on thier skills and to improve themselves in the future.

Thirdly, competition may have many positive aspects to it but there are also a lot of downsides to it . for example, exhibiting aggressive behavior and disrespecting or hurting one another in the name of winning is just too much . Instead they should maintain proper morals.

In conclusion, in order to get by in life we should keep everyting in balance as much as possible even if it seems impossible. But in this case cooperation ,wins over competition because it shows more benefits to its application in daily life.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

You have addressed both sides of the argument and provided a clear personal opinion. However, the development of your ideas is somewhat uneven. The paragraph on competition is quite long and detailed, while the paragraph on cooperation is less developed, relying on a single example about school children. To reach a higher band, ensure that each viewpoint is given balanced space and depth. Your position is clear, but the transition between the benefits of competition and the drawbacks could be more explicitly linked to your overall argument to ensure a more cohesive discussion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow your structure. You use basic cohesive devices like 'First off', 'Secondly', and 'In conclusion' to signal your points. However, the flow within paragraphs is sometimes hindered by repetitive phrasing and a lack of sophisticated linking words. For instance, the second paragraph contains a very long, run-on sentence that makes the logic harder to follow. Improving the use of referencing (e.g., using 'this' or 'these' to refer back to previous ideas) would help create a smoother progression of thought throughout the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing you to express your ideas clearly. You use some relevant topic-specific vocabulary such as 'cooperation', 'competition', and 'aggressive behavior'. However, there are several spelling errors ('competetion', 'thier', 'everyting') and some word choice issues, such as using 'notation' instead of 'notion' and 'turn a switch' which is an informal idiom. To improve, focus on using more precise academic vocabulary and proofreading for common spelling mistakes, which currently limit your ability to convey ideas with greater sophistication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with punctuation, subject-verb agreement, and sentence boundaries. For example, the second paragraph is essentially one very long, unpunctuated sentence, which makes it difficult to read. There are also missing articles and issues with capitalization (e.g., 'i' instead of 'I'). While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to distract the reader. Focusing on sentence structure and basic punctuation rules will significantly improve your score.

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