Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-08-29
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)
The most arguable and heated discussion globally, whether there should be rivalry in school, everyday life and workplace or there should be and partnership among them. In this essay I would discuss both views and give my own opinion.
On the one hand, people argue that there should be oppositions in everyday life because it makes the person do more work in sense to beat their rivalry. However, it is important to have rivalry at work because the person would be more productive and efficient as compered to their competitor because they want to look superior and make others think they are better. Moreover, in school there should be competitions in children which would make the child more competitive and help them score more than others, which would influence them to study harder to score better than their competitor. Therefore, a sense of competition is necessary for betterment of the life.
On the other hand, rivalry can be intense because it increases the sense of arrogance of a person which can lead to conflicts. Nevertheless, person can finish the entire courier of a person just because of arrogance, they want nobody to be on the same level which encourages them to vanish the person from their league. In some cases, people also killed their competitors just in sense of competition. Therefore, Strife can be a very dangerous emotion which should be controlled.
To conclude, the sense of competition is good till some extent because if it crossed the limits it can be harmful for both competitors.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The essay addresses both sides of the argument and provides a personal opinion, though the opinion is somewhat underdeveloped in the conclusion. The ideas regarding competition in schools and the workplace are relevant, but the discussion on the negative aspects of rivalry is slightly hyperbolic, particularly the claim that people 'killed their competitors'. This lack of nuance prevents the response from reaching a higher band. To improve, ensure that your arguments are supported by more logical, real-world examples rather than extreme scenarios, and ensure your position is clearly stated and maintained throughout the entire essay.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organised into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. You use some cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand', 'However', and 'To conclude' to signal transitions. However, the flow between sentences is sometimes mechanical, and some linking words are used incorrectly or awkwardly, such as 'in sense to beat' or 'in some cases, people also killed their competitors just in sense of competition'. Improving the variety and accuracy of your cohesive devices will help the ideas flow more naturally and logically.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, but there are several instances of awkward word choice and incorrect collocations. For example, 'finish the entire courier of a person' is unclear and likely a misuse of 'career', and 'vanish the person' is not the correct usage of the verb. There is an attempt to use some topic-specific vocabulary like 'productive', 'efficient', and 'arrogance', but the range is limited. To improve, focus on learning common collocations and ensuring that the words you choose accurately reflect your intended meaning.
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 clarity. Issues include subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'there should be and partnership'), incorrect preposition usage, and awkward phrasing (e.g., 'in sense to beat their rivalry'). Punctuation is generally functional, but the sentence construction often feels clunky. To reach a higher band, you should focus on mastering basic sentence patterns and reducing errors in articles, prepositions, and verb forms, while also attempting more complex structures with greater accuracy.
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.