Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

In this fast growing world people tend to look each other as competitor's in all aspects of life be it work, at school or even at a daily basics. In my opinion a competition between friends without harming the essence of friendship is a great thing to have.

Some people argue that it is good to have a healthy competition between peers and colleagues, I agree to this statement to an extent as one person in the group starts to grow in career or in life people will take him as an inspiration and try to copy him or try to make their life better, which eventually makes better than yesterday on by one. For example, if one person starts to work hard in the office his co-workers will also starts working harder than before to match his level of expects. Same goes with friends to, if one begins building body or taking care of his body, all the others in the group also do the same.

In the contrast, few say competition can ruin everyone's life by making them enemies. People tend to naturally hate people doing better than them in their life or any other aspects of life, which definitely leads envying each other. For instinct, one person begin to work hard and gets promotion in work, there is a high chance his colleagues might begin grow hate on him or even worst might harm him. For this reason we have to be very careful in choosing our friends even choosing competitors.

Finally, I believe competition in a good manner at any stage of life be it at work, at school or even in over all daily life is helpful and pushes us to give our better, but once it grow beyond one's goodwill, it might turn into enmity.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both views on competition versus cooperation and providing a clear personal opinion. The writer establishes a position in the introduction and maintains it throughout the essay, concluding that competition is generally beneficial until it crosses the line into enmity. Ideas are extended with relevant examples, such as co-workers working harder or friends starting to build muscle when one leads the way. However, some arguments lack depth and the examples tend to be somewhat generalised or anecdotal. For instance, the transition between discussing career ambition and physical fitness in the second paragraph is a bit abrupt. Nonetheless, the task is adequately fulfilled, meeting the Band 6 descriptor criteria for addressing all parts of the prompt with relevant, if slightly under-developed, ideas.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing that separates the introduction, the two opposing views, and the conclusion. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. The phrase 'In the contrast' is incorrect, and cohesive devices are occasionally repetitive or over-used, such as relying heavily on 'one person' or 'in life'. Paragraph transitions could be smoother; the second paragraph attempts to introduce the first view but jumps quickly between workplace and personal contexts without adequate linking. Pronoun referencing is generally understandable, but phrases like 'try to match his level of expects' create confusion. Overall, the logical progression is present, fitting the Band 6 profile where the essay is coherent overall, but mechanical referencing and cohesion issues hold it back from a higher band.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, demonstrating an attempt to use less common items such as 'competitor's', 'essence', 'envying', and 'goodwill'. However, there are notable word-choice and collocation errors throughout the text, including 'fast growing world' instead of 'fast-paced world', 'at a daily basics' instead of 'on a daily basis', 'level of expects' instead of 'expectations', and 'grow hate' instead of 'develop resentment'. Spelling errors like 'instinct' instead of 'instance' and punctuation errors also occur. The lexical range is sufficient to communicate meaning clearly, but frequent inaccuracies place this response firmly in the Band 5 to 6 range. Because the errors do not impede overall communication, it achieves a Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some variety with subordinate clauses introduced by 'as', 'if', and 'though'. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors in verb forms, prepositions, and articles. Examples include 'people tend to look each other as competitor's' (missing preposition and incorrect apostrophe), 'as one person in the group starts to grow in career... people will take him' (run-on structure with missing conjunctions), and 'if one begins building body' (missing article). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with comma splices separating independent clauses. While the meaning is generally retrievable, the frequency of errors prevents the sentence structures from being truly well-controlled, aligning with the Band 5 descriptor.

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