Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-08-25

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)

It is argued that people should try to cooperate more than competition at work , at school, and in daily life.

Competition is required for progress on the same side being over competitor kills potential. Being cooperative cost nothing people respects you and your work. Both are totally different views both have its importance vary with situation and context.

Competition is required for progress.

For promotion you have to proof yourself that you deserve this new position more than any other person, for that you have competition and competitors both. Competition is like a main ingredient of a dish. Competition gives you reality check keep you motivated to work hard. As human being is ---- in nature so they want some pressure to be replaced to work well.

But many people take work competition to personal which leads to personal biases. Consider a scenerio where a position is available but CEO has 4 canidates so now how will CEO choose by playing dice ? absolutely no he will evaluate each one with his competitors so by this we conclude that competition is nessecary and it not needed to be install like a computer software it exist at each level like from peon to managers.

Many people believe that every thing can be managed by cooperation no matter if it is related to work , school or personal life. Cooperation is as important in any organization as oxygen for human because organization tasks are not one person dependent it is mainly group tasks so it requires cooperation. Like in my school days we have two toppers brothers they read as a group sharing same resources sometime one gets 1st position sometime other, so positions can be obtain by cooperation as well.

I believe that keeping a balance in between both is required, cooperation between people is required to execute every task, but at same time competition is also required for constant progress. Means guide other as much as you can in the mean time try to gain more knowledge so you can compete them.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both sides of the argument and provides a clear personal opinion in the conclusion. However, the development of ideas is somewhat uneven. While the point about competition as a 'main ingredient' is relevant, the explanation regarding the CEO and the 'playing dice' analogy is slightly confusing and lacks academic precision. The discussion on cooperation is better supported with the example of the two brothers, but overall, the arguments could be more deeply explored to reach a higher band. The introduction is a bit abrupt and lacks a clear thesis statement, which impacts the overall task response.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or missing. For example, the transition between the introduction and the first body paragraph is abrupt. There is a reliance on simple sentence structures to link ideas, and some transitions, such as 'Means guide other as much as you can', are awkward and do not effectively connect the preceding thought to the conclusion. Paragraphing is present, but the internal flow within paragraphs could be improved with more sophisticated linking words.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and range required for higher bands. There are several instances of word-choice errors and non-standard collocations, such as 'take work competition to personal' (take competition personally) and 'it not needed to be install' (it does not need to be installed). The student uses some basic vocabulary repeatedly, and there is little evidence of less common lexical items or idiomatic expressions. Spelling errors, such as 'scenerio', 'canidates', and 'nessecary', also detract from the overall quality of the writing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but the accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement ('human being is... in nature', 'positions can be obtain'), article usage, and sentence fragments. Some sentences are difficult to parse due to missing punctuation or awkward phrasing, such as 'Competition is required for progress on the same side being over competitor kills potential.' While the meaning is generally clear, the high frequency of errors in basic grammar prevents the response from reaching a higher band.

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