Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-13
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 4.5)
Some individuals think that competing with others at job, school and in day to day activities is a good thing, while others argue that we should cooperate more than competing with each other. From my perspective, both competition and cooperate are equally required for personal as well as professional growth.
On the one hand, people compet with others to achieve more growth in their career. Because challenge challenges force individuals to do more than before which provides new information and knowledge of related field, and thus
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 4.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 4.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 4.5 |
| Overall | 4.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0
The response is severely under-length, containing only 86 words against the required 250-word minimum. Because the essay cuts off mid-sentence and fails to discuss both views fully or develop a complete argument, it cannot progress beyond Band 4.0 for Task Achievement. The writer attempts to introduce the topic and state a position in the introduction, but the body paragraph remains incomplete and undeveloped.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0
Due to the extreme brevity of the text—consisting of an introduction and a single incomplete body paragraph—coherence and cohesion are very limited. Although basic cohesive markers like 'On the one hand' and 'Because' are introduced, the lack of complete paragraphs and extended text prevents a clear overall progression. Paragraphing is underdeveloped, and referencing breaks down as the text terminates abruptly.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive, such as 'competing with others', 'personal as well as professional growth', and 'new information and knowledge'. There is a word-choice error ('competing with others at job' instead of 'at work'), and the word 'cooperate' is incorrectly used as a noun ('both competition and cooperate'). The lexical range is minimally adequate for the few sentences produced, but frequent basic errors restrict the score.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.5
The writer attempts a complex sentence structure ('Because challenge challenges force individuals to do more than before...'), but it results in a run-on, fragmented, and incomplete thought. Punctuation and grammar control break down significantly in the second paragraph, leading to sentence fragments ('and thus'). While simple structures are generally intelligible, the severe truncation and grammatical breakdown mean the output cannot sustain a higher band.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.