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)
Nowadays, where the world is rapidly growing in every aspect of life. The competition has surged in every segment of work field consequently, it has become so pivotal to catch up with latest trends and work hard to be victorious in life. Some people advocate that competition is beneficial because it motivates people to burn the midnight oil. While others believe that working as team is more effective to achieve specific goals. As far as i am concerned with this contentious issue i am more inclined towards working in tandem.
One the one hand people who supports the competition argues that job market of every field is full of talented and hard-working people to survive in this era and to make you position in the market secure every person has to outshine the other person. Which results in advantageous for the companies because they will get the employees that are intelligent and can handle multiple tasks at the same time. On top of those students competing with other students in educational institutes to get 1st position or gold medal helps the institutes to shine the institute name. Overall, competition is really good for the organizations across the board.
On the other hand, people who are in favor of working as a team believes that by working together, they can achieve their targets more efficiently rather than working alone these individuals who are master at their work can help those who struggle at working. This way of working creates a better environment for every single person it saves efforts and time both and provide better results than working competing with other people.
From my perspective, working alone competing with others have and working as team both have their own pros and cons it depends on the situation. Generally, working in a group is proves to be worthy than working alone competing with others
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the view that competition is beneficial and the view that cooperation is preferable, and the writer provides a clear personal opinion. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and lacks specific, well-elaborated examples. For instance, the discussion on students competing for gold medals remains rather surface-level. While the position is clear throughout, the arguments could be extended further with more concrete illustrations from education or the workplace to reach a higher band. Nevertheless, the main requirements of the task prompt are fulfilled adequately.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear paragraph structure representing an introduction, two body paragraphs discussing opposing views, and a conclusion. However, cohesion is frequently faulty and mechanical. The text contains several run-on sentences and punctuation errors, such as starting a sentence with 'Which results in advantageous...' and sentence fragments like 'While others believe that working as team is more effective...' Furthermore, transitional phrases are sometimes awkward or missing, and referencing is occasionally unclear, which disrupts the logical flow between sentences and ideas.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common collocations and phrases such as 'burn the midnight oil', 'work in tandem', and 'outshine the other person'. However, there are notable inaccuracies in word choice and word formation, such as 'which results in advantageous' instead of 'which results in advantages' and 'competing with others have and working as team both have'. Spelling is generally good, but the lexical control fluctuates, placing the response firmly within the Band 6 descriptor range.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but it is heavily impacted by frequent grammatical and punctuation errors. There are numerous run-on sentences and comma splices, particularly in the introduction and second paragraph (e.g., 'Nowadays, where the world is rapidly growing in every aspect of life. The competition has surged...'). Articles and prepositions are occasionally missing or misused (e.g., 'shine the institute name', 'working as team'). Although the meaning remains understandable, the high frequency of structural and punctuation errors prevents the essay from achieving a Band 6.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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