Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-11

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)

Some people believe there should be competition in different aspects of life, like at work or at school, while others believe cooperation is a more necessary element rather than trying to defeat each other. Although later opinion can be beneficial in some cases, I believe cooperation is a more essential element because it allows share of knowledge and lead to combination of multiple skills.

On the one hand, competition can be beneficial because it keeps the person motivated and perform better when a person is in competition with others. So this can foster their skills. For example, in university culture there is a competition for different quizzes and assignments, therefore students work on their own to achieve good grades, which help to improve their mental caliber and skills for the competitive job market. However, excessive competition can be stressful because person is not ready to accept defeat and can have detrimental effect on mental health.

On the other hand, cooperation helps to overcome complex problems by combination of multiple skills and share of diverse thoughts. This helps to provide better results of tasks in every aspect of life, whether at school or work. Cooperation develops strong mutual bonding with each other that allows easy flow of knowledge. For example, in firms like Google, staff is cooperative with each other that makes them best all around the globe for solving complexities like development of Gemini due to combination of multiple skills.

In conclusion, although competition is beneficial in various scenarios, but I believe cooperation outweighs competition because it allows share of knowledge and thoughts.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing both competition and cooperation before clearly stating a personal opinion. The ideas are relevant and generally well-developed, particularly the example regarding Google, which provides a concrete illustration of the benefits of cooperation. However, the development of the competitive side is slightly more superficial. While the position is clear throughout, the essay could be improved by further extending the arguments to reach a more sophisticated level of analysis. Overall, the response meets the requirements of the task effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Each paragraph has a central topic, and the progression of ideas is easy to follow. Cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand', 'However', and 'In conclusion' are used effectively to link ideas. While the paragraphing is appropriate, the flow between some sentences could be smoother; for instance, the transition between the benefits of competition and its potential drawbacks is slightly abrupt. Nevertheless, the overall structure is coherent and the use of referencing is generally clear.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express ideas clearly. There is an attempt to use topic-specific vocabulary such as 'mental caliber', 'detrimental effect', and 'mutual bonding'. However, there are some minor issues with word choice and collocation, such as 'allows share of knowledge' (should be 'allows for the sharing of knowledge') and 'provide better results of tasks' (should be 'produce better results'). To reach a higher band, the student should focus on more precise collocations and a wider range of sophisticated, academic vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is always clear, there are recurring grammatical errors, particularly with articles ('in university culture', 'in firms like Google') and pluralization/preposition usage ('combination of multiple skills' should be 'a combination of multiple skills'). Some sentences are slightly awkward, such as 'later opinion can be beneficial' (should be 'the latter opinion'). The student shows a good command of basic grammar, but more consistent control over complex structures and articles is needed to achieve a higher score.

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