Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-19
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)
Some people argue that it is better to compete at work, school and in daily life, while others say that we should encourage cooperation instead of competing against each other. While competition urges people to work hard and push themselves beyond limits, but it is the cooperation that helps us to solve complex problems at different stages of our lives.
On the one hand, competition at different place like at work, at school and in other parts of life pushes people to become better and work harder than others to reach their goals. In every aspect of life, we are watching people competing against each other to become number one. For instance, if we look at schools we see many top students competing against each other to get first position that's why they study more intensely then others. Same kind of pattern is observed in organizations where employees have competitions with each other to get promotion and raise their salary.
On the other hand, cooperation is paving the way to solve many complex engineering problems and scientific inventions. It is not possible for a single individual to make great discovery and solve complex engineering problem without cooperating with other employees. For example, during working on any research problem some professors and PhD students work togather to solve and document that issue. I believe that, humans have achieved this progress with the help of cooperation between them.
In conclusion, although competition encourage people to work harder than others to achieve their personal goals, but without cooperation it is impossible to solve complex engineering problems and make organizations successful.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both the views that competition is beneficial and that cooperation should be prioritised, and it clearly states the writer's own opinion in the body and conclusion. The ideas are relevant and supported with examples, such as top students competing at school and researchers cooperating on PhD projects. However, some arguments lack deep extension, tending towards generalisations rather than fully exploring the nuances of each viewpoint. Therefore, the task response aligns well with Band 6.5 to 7.0 criteria, comfortably earning a Band 6.5 for addressing the prompt adequately with a clear position.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay displays a clear overall progression and is logically organised into introduction, two body paragraphs representing opposing views, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate ideas. Cohesive devices are employed to link arguments, for example, using 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusion'. However, some referencing is slightly mechanical or repetitive, and minor cohesion lapses occur, such as the awkward conjunction usage in 'While competition urges people... but it is the cooperation'. These features reflect Band 6 performance, where cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical, yet the overall arrangement remains coherent.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating topic-specific words such as 'cooperation', 'competition', 'organization', and 'scientific inventions'. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary like 'intensively', 'complex engineering problems', and 'research problem'. However, there are some word-choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as 'at different place' instead of 'places', and 'make great discovery' lacking a necessary article. Spelling is generally accurate. Because the lexical range is sufficient for the task and communicates ideas clearly despite minor errors, a Band 6.0 is appropriate.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, featuring subordinate clauses ('if we look at schools', 'although competition encourage'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement ('competition encourage'), missing articles ('get first position', 'solve complex engineering problem'), and faulty sentence structures involving double conjunctions ('While competition urges... but it is...'). Punctuation is generally acceptable, but grammatical slips are noticeable throughout. Because the errors do not impede communication but persist across simple and complex structures, the writing fits the Band 6 descriptor well.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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