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)

It is an outgoing debate about competition in the workplace, education institutions and everyday life can brings positive results. However, others believe that peoples should focuse on cooperation instead of competing with each other. In this essay we can dissus both views. In my opinion cooperative environment is more important and has positive influence on workplace rather than having a rivalry.

On the one hand, competitions encourage personsto be more focused, work hard and improve their ability. When individuals compete with other they set higher goals. Competitions improve their skills and also broaden their knowledge.School reate compitation environment for students to meet their goals. Students complete each other for merits and they inspire one another these types of competitions help them to improve their thinking and knowledge. We can also see these types of competitions in Olympic Games, competitors set higher goal for their opponents these activities improve their performance to win the game. For instance, in the workplace employees improve their productivity and preformance to win the bonuses and rewards. These activities help them how to perform in difficult situation or preform in pressure and it also teaches useful skills.

On the other hand, cooprative environment is more effective because peoples can share their knowledge, skills and experiences with each others. Working as a team help them to work more efficiently they can divide their work. For example, if company working on a large project working as a team and also everyone can shows their skills and ideas which can improve their performance and they can complete it successfuly. Moreover, it can also reduces the stress level and creates a positive environment where they can work more efficiently.

In conclusion, competion can help peoples to work hard and achieve their desired goals. Nevertheless, I believe that cooperation is more beneficial overall because sharing knowledge and skills can creates a positive and support environment.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the view that competition is beneficial and the view that cooperation is preferable, and concludes with a clear personal opinion. The ideas are generally relevant, but the development is somewhat limited and repetitive, particularly in the body paragraphs where examples like workplace bonuses or team projects are stated rather than deeply explored. The position is maintained throughout, satisfying the requirements for Band 6. To reach a higher band, the student should expand further on the underlying reasons for each perspective with more sophisticated supporting arguments.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is divided into a clear four-paragraph structure, including an introduction, two body paragraphs representing opposing views, and a conclusion. Transitional markers such as 'On the one hand' and 'On the other hand' are employed to guide the reader through the argumentation. However, paragraphing and internal cohesion contain noticeable lapses. For instance, the second body paragraph crams multiple distinct ideas—schools, the Olympic Games, and the workplace—into a single block without smooth transitions. Referencing is occasionally imprecise, and logical progression is disrupted by mechanical sentence links, placing the response solidly at Band 6.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the student to communicate basic ideas about competition and cooperation effectively. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, such as 'productivity', 'efficiently', and 'supportive environment', but these are accompanied by frequent word-form and spelling errors like 'peoples', 'focuse', 'dissus', 'compitation', 'cooprative', and 'competion'. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they restrict the lexical score to a Band 5.5, as the range is limited and noticeable inaccuracies occur across multiple sentences.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over basic structures. However, frequent grammatical errors are present throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('competition... can brings', 'School reate'), missing articles, and awkward phrasing ('if company working on a large project'). Punctuation is also erratic in places, with missing commas or run-on sentences. Because the errors occur frequently and occasionally strain the reader's understanding, the performance aligns with Band 5.0.

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