Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-12

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)

Certain individuals believe that competition as part of daily life is a positive thing specially at work and school. Others contend that cooperation is more valuable than competing with each other.

On the one hand, competition is very common among people in workplace and schools. They do this because it motivates them to work harder and reach their goals. For instance, children at school think of their classmates as competitors because they are eager to study and learn from academic success. They always included in top or achievers class and sometimes receives awards and medals which makes their parents more proud. In addition, in working environment, competing against other employees can easily lead to promotions and receive a good salary increase. Furthermore, competition can benefit individuals to gain attention and even remarkable results.

On the other hand, working together as a group can make the life less stressful and burden rather than having a intense rivalry. For example, children at school should develop teamwork skills because it allows them to finish their activities and make more friends which enhance their relationship with their classmates and strengthen their bonds. It also leads to successful learning experiences because they work together as a team specially at sports events or a group competitions. Moreover, in workplace of a particular company employees cannot easily develop good outcomes if they only think of themselves and not working with each other. It is difficult to workout a project or have a brainstorming alone if they do not collaborate with other people. Through this, it may delay successes and also leads to problems with co- workers.

In conclusion, although competition is helpful when it comes to promotion or getting higher salary at work and being top achiever at school. However, I believe that collaboration is more important as it promotes a better working environment, able to finish work tasks and strengthen relationships with other people.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the views on competition and cooperation, while also clearly stating the writer's own opinion in the introduction and conclusion. Ideas are extended with relevant examples, such as children at school striving for academic success and employees working on projects together in a workplace. However, some arguments tend to over-generalise slightly, and certain supporting points, such as how competition leads to attention, could be developed more deeply. Overall, the prompt is well-covered, earning a solid Band 6.5, which aligns with addressing all parts of the task with relevant ideas, though some areas remain somewhat under-developed.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay has a clear overall arrangement with an introduction, two body paragraphs discussing each view, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are used to signal shifts between paragraphs, such as 'On the one hand' and 'On the other hand'. However, referencing and cohesion are occasionally faulty or mechanical. For instance, the transition in the conclusion ('although competition is helpful... However, I believe...') creates a sentence fragment error that disrupts the flow. Paragraphing is generally used sufficiently and appropriately, but internal cohesion within sentences occasionally lacks precision, placing this response comfortably at Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, successfully using terms like 'motivates', 'colleagues', 'collaboration', and 'teamwork'. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, but some word choice and collocation errors are present, such as writing 'make the life less stressful and burden' instead of 'a burden' or 'stressful and burdensome', and 'workout a project' instead of 'work out'. Spelling and word-choice errors do not impede communication, but they restrict the score to a Band 6.0 based on the descriptors for adequate range with noticeable lapses in precision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilising subordinating clauses such as 'because it allows them to finish their activities'. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement and prepositions, such as 'children at school always included in top or achievers class and sometimes receives awards', 'in working environment', and 'competition can benefit individuals to gain attention'. Additionally, the final sentence contains a grammatical slip ('is able to finish'), resulting in a sentence fragment structure. These errors occur frequently but rarely impede overall communication, reflecting a clear Band 6.0.

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