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)

The term competition refers to an individuals ability and willingness to improve over others in certain aspects of life. The aspects such as, school for students and work for adults.

However, some people believe that competition in daily life is a positive thing. While, on the other hand, a proportion believes that humans should cooperate more with each other.

Moreover, competition is indeed, a positive feature of our daily lifestyle. It helps in shaping the direction of life towards achieving specific goals or targets set by a person, within a pre set time frame. For example, getting good grades in a school exam or achieving the highest sales at work. To add, this fulfils the esteem needs of a person, if the goals is achieved and allows them to have a purpose in life to thrive, and keep winning among a group of students at school or employees at work.

Secondly, cooperation among each other depends completely on an individual’s choice, as not everyone prefers to work together in a team, whether it’s at school, at work or in daily chores. Such as, guiding each other in school homework, fixing a problem at work or getting physical help to lift groceries. People should definitely help and support each other, but this alone, does not redirect or shifts the natural state of a human to not compete.

Therefore, in my opinion everyone should be a part of competition because it leads to growth and shapes a person in the strongest way possible, which helps the mind to solve complex problems and have a purpose in life.

However, people should stay humble, kind and cooperate with each other, if possible.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses both sides of the argument and provides a clear personal opinion. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. While you mention competition helps with 'esteem needs' and 'goals', the discussion on cooperation is underdeveloped, focusing more on individual choice rather than the societal or collaborative benefits of cooperation. The introduction is slightly fragmented, and the conclusion, while clear, could have better synthesised the main points. To reach a higher band, ensure that both sides of the prompt are explored with equal depth and that your arguments are supported by more detailed reasoning or illustrative examples.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organised into logical paragraphs, and there is a clear progression of ideas. You use some cohesive devices such as 'However', 'Moreover', and 'Therefore' to link your thoughts. However, the use of these devices is sometimes mechanical or slightly awkward, such as starting a sentence with 'Such as,' which is grammatically incomplete. Additionally, the transition between the second and third paragraphs could be smoother to better contrast the two viewpoints. Improving the variety and natural flow of your linking words will help elevate your score in this criterion.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'esteem needs', 'thrive', and 'complex problems'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'redirect or shifts the natural state' (should be 'redirects or shifts') and 'pre set' (should be 'preset'). The vocabulary is generally functional but lacks the precision and sophistication required for higher bands. To improve, focus on using more academic collocations and ensuring that your word forms are consistently accurate.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally distract the reader. For example, 'The aspects such as, school for students' is a sentence fragment, and 'an individuals ability' lacks the necessary possessive apostrophe. There are also subject-verb agreement issues, such as 'goals is achieved' instead of 'goals are achieved'. While your meaning is generally clear, the frequency of these errors prevents the essay from reaching a higher band. Focus on proofreading for basic punctuation and subject-verb agreement.

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