Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

Competition gives a slight enjoyment to monotonous life of an individual. people argues that competition at profession, study in daily routine is beneficial for individual, meanwhile critics assumes that competition is assist grater than competing to each other. This essay discuss both views before presenting my view.

On the one hand, competition is advantageous during for the aspirants and the entrepreneurs. Moreover, It assist individual to pushing self limits and coming out form comfort zones. For instance, I always compete with toppers of my class during examinations. Furthermore, I study hard and burns midnight oil to come first in a class, most of the time. due to this, I earn more grads than them. It also aid my knowledge and keeps me motivating about study. Hence, competition helps people to move out form their comfort zones.

On the other hand, cooperating to each other during task improve the accuracy and quality of task and increase the brotherhood to each other. Furthermore, it also reduces time needed to complete tasks. A case in point, my father daily assist to my uncle to calculate the income and expenditure of business. whenever he is free form their work. It help to reduce error in the calculations and provide accurate figures at the end of day. Therefore, corporation is advantageous to people in reducing errors in tasks.

I strongly incline to believe, competition in the occupations and learning every time beneficial for the individual. where an individual can learn self worth and keeps motivated for doing more better every time.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The essay addresses both views and provides a clear personal opinion. However, the development of ideas is somewhat superficial. For example, the argument for competition relies on a personal anecdote about school grades, which is a bit narrow. The discussion on cooperation is also limited to a single example of family assistance. To reach a higher band, you should expand your arguments with more general, analytical points rather than relying solely on personal experience. The position is clear, but the conclusion is brief and could better synthesize the main points discussed in the body paragraphs.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, and there is a clear progression of ideas. You use cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand,' 'Furthermore,' and 'A case in point' to link your thoughts. However, some transitions feel mechanical, and there are instances where the flow is slightly disrupted by grammatical errors, such as 'whenever he is free form their work.' The referencing is sometimes unclear, particularly with pronouns like 'their' or 'them' which do not always have a clear antecedent. Improving the variety and precision of your linking words would enhance the overall coherence.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You have an adequate range of vocabulary to convey your meaning, but there are several errors in word choice and collocation. For instance, you use 'slight enjoyment' instead of 'a sense of enjoyment,' and 'earn more grads' instead of 'achieve higher grades.' Phrases like 'burns midnight oil' are used correctly, but other attempts at more sophisticated language, such as 'aspirants' or 'brotherhood,' are slightly misused in context. To improve, focus on learning common collocations and ensuring that your word choices are natural and precise for the specific context of the essay.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there is a high frequency of grammatical errors. Common issues include subject-verb agreement ('people argues,' 'It assist'), incorrect preposition usage ('competing to each other'), and article errors. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are persistent throughout the text. To improve, you should focus on basic sentence construction, specifically ensuring that verbs agree with their subjects and that prepositions are used correctly. Reducing the frequency of these errors is essential for moving to a higher band.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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