Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-14

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)

The debate over whether rivalry or teamwork yields greater success in academic, proffesional, and personal spheres remains widely discussed. This debate has both side advantages or disadvantages.

On the one hand, when people know ther are competing for top grades, job promotions, or recognition, they are often driven to put in extra efforts and improve their skills. For insctance, in many corporations, performance-based bonuses which encourage employees to meet their ambitious sales target, which boosts thier income and productivity. Furthermore, competing in sports or academic teaches people how to deal with failures and bild mentally strong.

On the other hand, cooperation leads to far better overall results and create a healthier environment. Many modern tasks in both school and the workplace are too complex alone. When people collaborate, they can combine different talents, share ideas freely, and solve problems much faster. In contrast, an overly competitive atmosphere often causes unnecessary anxiety, destroy trusts, and prevents individuals from sharing crucial information with their peers out of fear of losing an advantage.

In my opinion, while competing has its benefits in pushing personal limits, cooperation should be priortized in most area of life. Working as a team fosters empathy and communication, which are essential for long-term success. For example, schools that focus on group projects rather than strict individual rankings help students develop key social skills that prepare them for future group environments in the real world.

To conclude, although competition can inspire people to strive for individual excellence, cooperation is ultimately a superior approach. Priortizing teamwork over individual rivalry creates a suppoetive environment that leads to higher collective achivements and better mental well-being.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The student successfully addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the view that competition is beneficial and the alternative perspective that cooperation should be prioritized. A clear personal position is established in the introduction and maintained throughout the essay. Main ideas are extended and supported with relevant explanations and examples, such as the mention of performance-based bonuses in corporations and school group projects. Although there is a slight tendency to over-generalize in places, the response thoroughly covers the prompt requirements and presents well-developed arguments that fully satisfy the task response criteria for Band 7.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay displays a clear logical organization and progression throughout. Information and ideas are coherently structured into distinct paragraphs, starting with a clear introduction, followed by balanced body paragraphs for each viewpoint, a personal stance, and a concise conclusion. Cohesive devices are used reasonably well, such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'In my opinion', which guide the reader smoothly through the writer's argument. However, referencing is occasionally slightly strained, and certain transitional expressions could be more varied. Overall, paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, demonstrating clear logical sequencing that aligns well with the descriptors for a Band 7 score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate to sufficient range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'performance-based bonuses', 'ambitious sales target', and 'empathy and communication'. However, there are several noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, including 'proffesional', 'ther', 'insctance', 'target' (plural agreement needed), 'thier', 'bild', 'destroy' (form error), 'priortized', 'area', 'suppoetive', and 'achivements'. While these errors do not impede communication, they reflect recurrent slips in spelling and lexical control that prevent the response from achieving a higher band. Consequently, a score of 6.0 is appropriate.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at relative clauses and conditional structures. There are several good complex sentences, such as 'When people know ther are competing for top grades... they are often driven to put in extra efforts.' However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent due to frequent errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('competing in sports or academic teaches', 'create a healthier environment' following a plural subject, 'competing has its benefits'), missing pluralizations, and fragment or run-on structure issues in sentences like 'performance-based bonuses which encourage employees to meet their ambitious sales target, which boosts thier income and productivity.' These errors occasionally cause minor difficulty for the reader, fitting the Band 6 profile.

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.