Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-16

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)

Nowadays competition is increasing at almost all stages of one's life. There is often a debate on whether humans should be competitive or cooperative. In my opinion, the presence of both competition and cooperation is essential.

Competition starts from our early life, for instance, a sperm must compete against millions of sperm to fertilize an ovum to form a zygote which eventually develops into human. Moreover, the desire to compete and attain the first position whether at school or at work act as a motivational drive. Without the sense of competition, majority of individuals will start considering everything is granted for them and will start dominating one's field. However, anything in excess is harmful. An excessive competition may change the nature of individuals. They may opt for hostile and unethical methods to reach the topmost position.

Although being competitive is not essential everywhere, for example refusal to help fellow classmate or colleague with the thought that they will score better or get paid more is absolutely wrong. Instead, cooperating, being empathic and helping others during their time of need is an example of good human being. Moreover, instead of helping people often try to harm his fellow colleague by providing wrong information or by making false accusations which is a heinous activity.

Globally, inflation and increased population has led to an increase in competition everywhere. In my opinion, I strongly believe we should not be too competitive so that we forget our humanity. Instead we should help others along with achieving our aim and goals in life.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both the benefits of competition and the need for cooperation, while also providing a clear personal opinion in the introduction and conclusion. The ideas are generally relevant, though some parts are slightly under-developed or contain unconventional examples, such as the biological reference to sperm competing in the second paragraph. However, the writer manages to link this back to human motivation and the dangers of excessive competition. The position remains consistent throughout the essay. Because all parts of the task are addressed and a clear stance is maintained, this performance aligns well with Band 6.5 to 7.0 descriptors. Specifically, it covers all parts of the task with a clear position, though some supporting ideas could be more thoroughly explained and polished.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a logical overall progression and is divided into appropriate paragraphs, starting with an introduction, moving through body paragraphs addressing the prompt's elements, and concluding with a summary. Cohesive devices are used to connect ideas, such as 'Moreover', 'However', and 'Although', though some transitions are occasionally mechanical or slightly repetitive. Referencing is mostly clear, but there are minor instances where pronouns or noun phrases lack absolute precision, such as 'his fellow colleague' where pronoun agreement fluctuates between plural and singular. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to structure the argument, satisfying the requirements for a Band 6.0 performance, where the arrangement is coherent overall despite some faults in cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, successfully incorporating terms such as 'zygote', 'motivational drive', 'empathic', and 'heinous activity'. However, there are notable lexical and collocation errors, such as 'considering everything is granted for them' instead of 'taken for granted', and grammatical noun-pronoun disagreements like 'harm his fellow colleague'. Word choice is sometimes strained or slightly unnatural, placing this response firmly in the Band 6 category, where the vocabulary is adequate for the task and attempts less common items, but contains inaccuracies and occasional spelling or word-choice errors that do not severely impede communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional structures. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several noticeable errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues like 'majority of individuals will start considering' and 'increased population has led', as well as missing articles ('a sperm', 'refusal to help fellow classmate'). Punctuation and phrasing occasionally cause awkwardness, as seen in 'In my opinion, I strongly believe'. While these errors do not completely obscure the message, they occur frequently enough to prevent the essay from reaching a Band 7. The profile fits Band 6, featuring a mix of sentence structures alongside persistent grammatical errors.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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