Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-22

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)

Several individuals believe that competition at educational institutes, work place and in daily routine is a healthy practice. While other argued, cooperation is important. This essay will discuss both views and my opinion.

On the one hand, competition plays a huge role in humans life. There are several benefits and drawbacks of opposition. Firstly, some people are not able to perform well under the pressure of competition. For instance it is noted that, many youngsters experience anxiety due to competition at work place. Their promotions are based on this criteria. Similarly, several students lose interest in their studies as they have to compete with their peers to score the first position. This effect their personal growth and their confidence to tackle other problems of live. Secondly, when society revolves around competition, development will be limited in some sectors. For instance, the founders of different industries will shift their focus from inventing new products to comparison with other brands.

On the other hand, cooperation benefits individuals as well as society. It reduces the pressure and provide mental peace to many workers or students. For example whenever a students is facing academic problem he or she will easily takes help from another student, moreover it will build a great bound between them. Likewise when colleagues help each other in managing various task and completing projects before deadlines this will provide double benefits. As, they experience a toxic free environment and the company will grow.

In my opinion, competition is not healthy is any way, it effects the personal growth and cause mental issues. Whereas, cooperation is the key to move in life easily and provide mental peace to the people in your surrounding.

To conclude, competition makes the life tough, create self doubts in many employees and students. cooperation is vital for personal and society growth.

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 clearly states an opinion in the conclusion and body paragraphs. Ideas are generally relevant, such as mentioning the stress of workplace competition and the support gained through cooperation. However, the development of ideas tends to be somewhat superficial and lacks extension with deeper analysis or more precise examples. For instance, the argument that development is limited when industries focus on comparison rather than invention is stated but not fully explained. The position is clear throughout, but the reasoning is occasionally overly generalised. This places the response comfortably at Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear paragraph structure, including an introduction, two body paragraphs exploring the distinct viewpoints, an opinion paragraph, and a concluding paragraph. Cohesive devices are employed to guide the reader, such as 'On the one hand,' 'On the other hand,' 'Firstly,' and 'Secondly.' However, referencing and cohesion are occasionally faulty or mechanical. For example, 'While other argued, cooperation is important' lacks smooth transitional flow, and referencing pronouns like 'This effect their personal growth' create minor cohesion slips. Paragraphing is used sufficiently, but overall logical progression between sentences could be sharpened to reach a higher band. This corresponds to a Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common phrases such as 'toxic free environment' and 'mental peace.' There are, however, several word-choice and spelling errors that detract from precision. Examples include 'work place' instead of 'workplace,' 'effect' instead of 'affect' (used multiple times), 'live' instead of 'life,' and 'bound' instead of 'bond.' Additionally, collocation is sometimes awkward, as seen in 'competition is not healthy is any way' (in any way). Despite these inaccuracies, communication is not impeded, and the vocabulary is minimally sufficient to convey the intended meaning, matching the Band 6.0 descriptors.

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 frequent errors in verb forms, subject-verb agreement, and punctuation. Examples include 'While other argued' (others argued), 'whenever a students is facing' (a student is / students are), 'takes help' (take help), and missing commas after introductory phrases. Furthermore, pluralisation errors occur, such as 'various task' instead of 'various tasks.' While these errors do not seriously impede communication, they demonstrate a lack of consistent control over complex structures, warranting a Band 5.5.

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