Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-06

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)

In the modern era, both competition and cooperation have been required to take any work to extreme heights. Many individuals believe that the most crucial thing at job, study and work is competing with the competitors, others believe that people should develop the skills of cooperation among other individuals. In this essay, i would not only discuss the importance of competition at workplace and colleges but also the cooperation skill.

On the one hand, many youngsters believe that competition plays a crucial role to become life more sustain. People at workplace, colleges and home should develop the ability to face the difficulties more accurately when someone is competing for the same thing. Moreover, this may shift common person comfort zone to challenging zone. For example, Swiggy is competing with Zomato on the basis of food delivery, this helps to enhancement in marketing skills of Swiggy.

On the other hand, some individuals believe that cooperation plays a significant role in development of any companies or brands. With the help of cooperative skills, any individuals can engage in a common work and form skills of team ship. Furthermore, working in a group can engage the development of more ideas from every team member, which can contribute to make a well flourish work. For instance, if a school appoint a group of students to complete a specific project, they can do excellent job by cooperating with each other rather than individuals.

In conclusion, although competition develop a foster business or work, which attributes to have further bright future yet the skill of cooperation with each other makes a work more beautiful than earlier. Moreover, cooperation makes an individual more expressive as well as a good team member.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The essay addresses both sides of the argument and provides a clear personal opinion. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, the example of Swiggy and Zomato is relevant but lacks depth in explaining how competition specifically enhances marketing skills. Similarly, the point about school projects is a good start but could be expanded to explain the long-term benefits of cooperation. The position is consistent, but the conclusion could be more robust by synthesising the two views rather than just summarising them. Overall, the response meets the requirements of the prompt but would benefit from more detailed supporting evidence and analysis.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organised into clear paragraphs, each with a distinct focus. Cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand', 'Moreover', and 'In conclusion' are used to guide the reader through the argument. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and there are instances where the flow is interrupted by awkward phrasing, such as 'this may shift common person comfort zone to challenging zone'. Referencing is generally clear, but the connection between sentences could be smoother to improve the overall progression of ideas. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the different viewpoints.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, but it lacks the precision and variety required for a higher band. There are several instances of unnatural word choices or collocations, such as 'take any work to extreme heights', 'become life more sustain', and 'well flourish work'. While the meaning is generally clear, the range of vocabulary is somewhat limited and repetitive. To improve, you should focus on using more sophisticated collocations and idiomatic expressions that are appropriate for an academic context, rather than relying on basic descriptors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is usually clear, there are frequent grammatical errors, such as 'i would not only discuss... but also the cooperation skill' (missing article/noun phrase), 'competition develop a foster business' (subject-verb agreement), and 'any individuals can engage' (incorrect determiner usage). Punctuation is generally acceptable, but the frequency of these minor errors prevents the essay from reaching a higher band. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and the correct use of articles would significantly improve the accuracy of your writing.

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

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