Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-21
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 have this opinion, that one should have competition at work,school and in daily life while others think contrary to it as they support the idea of cooperataion. I support the opinion of first group, as competetion is necessary for growth.
First group's opinion of competetion sounds good to me, because without competition there won't be any urgency of improvement in people. I remember when i was preparing for medical exam test. I had no mtoivation, but my friends were preparing day and night for that exam which made me feel anxious about myself, that i will be left behind them. This feeling of competetion forced me to prepare for exams. A recent study has shown that people who like to compete with their fellows have 75 percent more chances of being succesful than their fellows.
Some people support cooperative mindset, which is also a good thing as cooperation is necessary for a maintaining a good environment in every aspect of life. A person who thinks that cooperation is not necessary for growth, he is totally wrong as cooperation is also an important aspect of builiding a good career alongside competetion. I remember a time when i was competing with a candidate in a cooking competetion. My opponent forgot to bring butter and she was soo stressed about it. I had plenty of every ingredient with myself but i was also short on butter, still I offered her butter anyways. Judges were soo inspired with my cooperation that they gave me extra marks for it. So i think cooperation is also necessary alongside competetion.
In conclusion, although i support the opinion of people thinking competetion is necessary, it is necessary too to cooperate in your life. In this way, you can be get succes while maintaining a good relation with almost evrybody.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both competition and cooperation while clearly stating the writer's own opinion in favor of competition. The position is maintained throughout the essay. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and relies heavily on personal anecdotes rather than broader arguments. For instance, the example about the medical exam test and the cooking competition support the main points, but they are relatively simplistic and under-developed. Nevertheless, the main task requirements are met with relevant ideas presented, placing this performance at a solid band 6.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay has a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs addressing each viewpoint, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate ideas. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty. Transitions like 'First group's opinion of competetion sounds good to me' and referencing such as 'A person who thinks that cooperation is not necessary for growth, he is totally wrong' reveal lapses in referencing and logical flow. Cohesive devices are minimally managed rather than used flexibly, leading to a band 6 score.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting words like 'urgency', 'anxious', and 'inspired'. However, there are numerous spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, such as 'competetion' (repeatedly misspelled), 'cooperataion', 'mtoivation', 'succesful', and 'evrybody'. Less common vocabulary is attempted with inaccuracy, and these recurring mechanical errors in spelling prevent the lexical score from reaching a higher band, though communication is not impeded.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The writer demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'Some people support cooperative mindset, which is also a good thing as cooperation is necessary for a maintaining a good environment'. There are several grammatical errors and punctuation issues, including missing articles ('a maintaining', 'medical exam test'), incorrect pronoun referencing ('A person who thinks that cooperation is not necessary for growth, he is totally wrong'), and capitalization errors ('i'). While these errors are noticeable, they rarely impede overall communication, fitting the criteria for a band 6.
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.