Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-18
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 5.0)
It is often argued that competition at work, at school and in daily life is a good thing. Some poeple believe in this theory while others believes in cooperation. I completely agree with this view because being competitive thrive you to your goal much faster and with much more end result.
To begin with, being competive is a good thing but it also have its down sides. There are alot of lazy people in our society, those poeple don't like to put any effort and even though when they are putting effort, they are not doing the activity by heart.
As a human, our body and mind works much better when they have the urge to win. To almost everyone the feeling of winning is the best one. For example, I am so lazy and even when playing football i don't put much effort running behind loose balls. My team was in the final and we were loosing the final match, but suddenly I heard that there coach was saying that we are weak team. All of a sudden, my body felt the urgency to play at the fullest. Just by hearing those words, I became so motivated that I made a comeback by scoring hattrick by my own.
Just as positive it is, it also has it's negative effects. When we are too competive in our life we usually loose the people who love us by seeing them as a challenge too.
We can take advantage of this sensation by knowing where to give our best and where to hold back.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses the prompt by discussing both competition and cooperation, and the writer provides a clear personal opinion. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and relies heavily on a personal anecdote rather than fully exploring the broader societal or educational implications of both views. While the writer agrees with competition, the discussion of the opposing view on cooperation is very brief. This corresponds to the Band 6 descriptor, where all parts are addressed, but some are under-developed. There is a slight contradiction in the introduction where the writer states 'Some people believe in this theory while others believes in cooperation. I completely agree with this view', which is slightly ambiguous as two views were just presented, though the overall stance becomes clearer later in the text.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a recognisable introduction, body, and conclusion. Paragraphing is attempted, though some paragraphs are quite short and poorly structured. For example, the text features very short single-sentence paragraphs like 'We can take advantage of this sensation by knowing where to give our best and where to hold back.' Cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or faulty, such as the abrupt transition 'Just as positive it is, it also has it's negative effects.' Referencing is occasionally unclear, and logical progression between ideas lacks smooth transitions. These features align well with the Band 5 descriptor, reflecting some organization but lacking clear overall progression and adequate cohesive control.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to communicate basic ideas about competition and laziness. However, there are numerous spelling and word-choice errors, such as 'poeple' instead of people, 'believes' instead of believe, 'thrive' instead of drive, 'competive' instead of competitive, 'alot' instead of a lot, 'loosing' instead of losing, and 'hattrick' needing an article. Attempts to use less common vocabulary result in inaccuracies or awkward collocations like 'doing the activity by heart'. These characteristics are typical of Band 5, where the range is limited but minimally adequate, and noticeable errors cause occasional difficulty for the reader.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional and dependent clauses ('even when playing football i don't put much effort running behind loose balls'). However, there is a high frequency of grammatical and punctuation errors throughout the text. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('others believes'), missing apostrophes ('their coach', 'its negative effects'), and incorrect verb forms ('we were loosing'). Punctuation is also weak, particularly with capitalization of the pronoun 'i'. These frequent errors place the performance at Band 5, as attempts at complex sentences are often faulty and errors can occasionally cause difficulty for the reader.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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