Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

Some people think that competition at work, at school and in daily life is a superb thing. Others believe that we should try to cooperate more, rather than competing against each other. I partially agree with this statement.

In the beginning I'm going to describe the positive aspects of rivalry. Competition is a very good quality. It changes the student mindset. In school we see a lot of lazy, nill and unsuccessful students in the classrooms of the school. So, teachers do a trick. They brought a contests among the students and the interesting thing is that due to these challenges students can work hard and the get good marks in the end. This method is using in every department such as schools, politics etc.

Now I'm going to talk about the negative and harmful aspects of these unusual conflicts. Some toper students make the personal race with the other intelligent students. They try to fight with them even in some cases they kill others students. In some cases they suicide if their numbers in examinations are not according to their thoughts.

Moreover, there is a great risk of health because these students work hard day and night. Therefore, they don't have enough time to take rest and their body can't bear it and the became a patient of various diseases like fever. As it is a quote that "Sound body have sound mind".

In addition to this, that one student have not respect among the students, teachers and his family members.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response attempts to address both views on competition and cooperation, presenting a partial personal opinion as requested. However, the development of ideas is limited, repetitive, and lacks depth. The discussion relies on extreme and inappropriate examples, such as students committing suicide or killing others over exam scores, which impairs the realism and overall persuasiveness of the argument. Furthermore, the conclusion is abrupt and incomplete, failing to synthesize the two viewpoints effectively. While the prompt's core theme is recognized, the execution falls into the Band 5 category due to under-developed arguments, unsupported generalizations, and a failure to fully explore the collaborative side of the prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay displays a basic structural organization with distinct paragraph breaks, yet the overall progression of ideas is hindered by awkward transitional phrases, such as 'In the beginning I'm going to describe' and 'Now I'm going to talk about.' Cohesive devices are frequently repetitive and mechanical. Additionally, referencing is sometimes unclear, and the lack of a proper concluding paragraph disrupts the flow of the text. Paragraphing is attempted, but individual paragraphs are disjointed, particularly the final isolated sentence which lacks context or cohesion with the rest of the text, placing this criterion solidly in the Band 5 range.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is relatively basic and repetitive, with frequent reliance on simple terms like 'good', 'bad', and 'things'. There are noticeable word choice and collocation errors throughout the response, such as 'toper students' instead of top students, 'personal race' instead of personal rivalry, and 'numbers' instead of grades or scores. Furthermore, the phrase 'Sound body have sound mind' contains grammatical inaccuracies. While the writer attempts some less common items like 'rivalry' and 'unusual conflicts', the pervasive errors in word formation and lexical control restrict the score to Band 5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay demonstrates a very limited range of grammatical structures, relying primarily on simple sentences with occasional flawed attempts at complex constructions. Frequent grammatical and mechanical errors impede readability, including tense inconsistencies, missing plural markers ('other students', 'various disease'), and incorrect verb forms ('the became a patient' instead of they became). Subject-verb agreement is also problematic, as seen in 'this method is using' and the quoted proverb 'Sound body have sound mind'. These persistent errors cause noticeable difficulty for the reader and align with the descriptors for Band 5.

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