Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

Some people believe that competition at the workplace, school and everyday life is beneficial, while others argue that people must cooperate among their surroundings. Although, competition can encourage people to work harder, I think that teamwork is more significant in order to grab long-term success.

On the one hand, competition can provoke people to improve themselves. When students compete to attain good grades, they study harder in order to achieve their goals. Similarly, competition between employees could help them carry out individual tasks in a more polished manner. For instance, when our head at my work place gives us any task to be done solely, we all compete in order to get good remarks. Hence, competition is one of a decent way to test ones' abilities and to increase productivity.

On the other hand, teamwork allows people to share ideas, skills and different responsibilities. Working within a team creates a friendly environment, enabling people help each other and exchanging multiple skills. Partnership is very important as it helps people complete prolonged, grinding tasks in a shorter time span. For example, at my work place when we are supposed to carry out large projects, we work as a team by dividing certain tasks and it enables us to compete the deadline in a much easier way. Ultimately, cooperation allows to build stronger relationships and reduces unnecessary stress.

In my opinion, we must practice to work as a team, as it promotes a healthy environment enabling people to gain skills from each other and building a stronger base together.

To conclude, I believer there must be a balance between both the aspects in order to encourage a stronger character development.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response successfully addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both the views on competition and cooperation while presenting a clear personal position that teamwork is more significant for long-term success. The student introduces relevant ideas, such as how competition provokes improvement in students and employees, alongside the benefits of teamwork like shared responsibilities and reduced stress. However, some ideas are slightly under-developed; for example, the explanation of how competition tests abilities could be extended further. Overall, the response fulfils the requirements of the task effectively, presenting a well-supported argument throughout.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay displays a clear overall progression and is logically organised into paragraphs. Each paragraph has a clear central topic, starting with an introduction, moving to the two contrasting views, and concluding with a clear personal stance. Cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'Ultimately' are used appropriately to guide the reader through the arguments. Paragraphing is used sufficiently. However, referencing and transitions are occasionally slightly mechanical, keeping the response at a solid Band 6.5 to 7 level.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, successfully attempting less common lexical items such as 'beneficial', 'productivity', 'prolonged, grinding tasks', and 'character development'. However, there are some minor word choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as 'cooperate among their surroundings' instead of 'cooperate with one another', 'one of a decent way' instead of 'one decent way', and 'compete the deadline' instead of 'meet the deadline'. Despite these occasional errors, communication is never impeded.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The writer demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating conditional-like structures and subordinate clauses effectively, as seen in 'When students compete to attain good grades, they study harder...'. There are several grammatical errors and punctuation slips present, such as 'Although, competition can encourage...' (incorrect comma usage), 'ones'' (incorrect apostrophe placement), 'allows to build' missing an object, and 'I believer' (typo). Nevertheless, these errors do not impede communication, and the writer maintains a reasonable level of grammatical control.

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.