Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-04

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)

Whether competition and cooperation in the workplace, educational institutions and in daily life are beneficial for individuals is a controversial topic. Competition makes people more hardworking and ambitious, while cooperation encourage mutual growth and innovation. In this essay, I will discuss both views and give my opinion on a balanced approach.

On the one hand, competition in schools make students more hardworking and ambitious toward their goals. competition motivate individuals to work hard and achieve their goals.

When people try to compete wither others, they often try to develop more skills and improve their performance to be more successful. In educational institutes students compete for higher grades and scholarships. similarly, employees become more productive and creative for recognition and promotions. In daily life people compete for better life so they become more hardworking.

Healthy competition can encourage people to set higher standards and work for them.

On the other hand, cooperation is very important for the development of better community. When people cooperate with others they can solve complex problems and share their skills. In workplace people from different department and organizations can work together to create more innovative things. They can be successful together. Like few years ago scientists, government and organizations worked cross border to develop the vaccine for COVID.

In addition to educational institutes students cooperate with other in group projects and assignments that develops teamwork, communication and problem-solving skills.

In my opinion, healthy balance between cooperation and competition is necessary because it can promote individual and mutual growth. Excessive competition leads to more stress and eradicate harmony in the society

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing both competition and cooperation before providing a clear personal opinion. The ideas are relevant, such as the mention of COVID-19 vaccine development as an example of cooperation. However, the development of ideas is somewhat superficial. For instance, the paragraph on competition relies on repetitive points about being 'hardworking and ambitious' without exploring the nuances or potential downsides in depth. To reach a higher band, you should provide more detailed explanations and perhaps a more specific example for the competition argument to match the quality of the cooperation example.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the two viewpoints. Cohesive devices are present, such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'In addition', which help guide the reader. However, some transitions feel a bit mechanical or repetitive. The flow between sentences within paragraphs could be improved by using a wider variety of linking words and ensuring that referencing (e.g., 'they', 'these') is always precise to avoid ambiguity.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express ideas clearly. There are some attempts at less common vocabulary, such as 'innovative' and 'mutual growth'. However, the range is somewhat limited, and there is a tendency to repeat words like 'hardworking', 'compete', and 'goals'. There are also minor collocation issues, such as 'eradicate harmony' (which is not a natural collocation; 'disrupt' or 'undermine' would be better). Expanding your vocabulary to include more precise synonyms and collocations would enhance the sophistication of your writing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are several grammatical errors that persist throughout the text. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('competition in schools make', 'cooperation encourage') and missing articles ('in workplace', 'in educational institutes'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, with some missing commas after introductory phrases. While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. Focusing on proofreading for basic subject-verb agreement and article usage would significantly improve your accuracy.

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