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)

In today's world cooperation or competition both plays significant roles in every aspects of professional fields. Some people believe that competition motivates them to work harder which helps them to generate better results while others think that working as a team produces superior outcomes with less efforts. As far as I'm concerned with this contentious topic, I'm more inclined towards cooperation because it is beneficial for both individuals and society.

The proponents of competition believe that it ignites the fire in them to work harder than everyone else. For instance, there is always a healthy competition between students because of their academics every student work harder to score better marks than their class fellows, same thing in professional fields every employee puts efforts to get promotion over another employee. It is a really good thing if you look at mobile companies, they try new innovations to surge in the market with their rival companies which automatically results in favor of the public they get to use new technologies which are really beneficial for their daily life like GPS,AI etc.

On the other hand, people who believes that working as team is more beneficial because it saves efforts and time both and produces often better outcomes. Every task cannot be achieved individually it requires teamwork. For example, Companies nowadays assigns tasks to a team rather than each person individually. If we look at the time of Covid-19 pandemic whole world was collapsed, so scientists from different parts of the world work together to overcome the covid-19 in which they succeeded.

In conclusion, cooperation and competition both have their owns advantages and disadvantages. But I believe that cooperation is ultimately more valuable. By combining knowledge, resources and diverse perspectives, people are able to solve complex problems more effectively

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both competition and cooperation while clearly stating the writer's personal position in the introduction and conclusion. The ideas are relevant and supported with examples, such as the comparison of mobile companies innovating for market advantage and scientists collaborating during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, some arguments remain slightly under-developed; for instance, the discussion on student competition could be expanded further to fully explore its wider implications on daily life. Overall, the task is addressed adequately and a clear stance is maintained throughout, fitting the Band 6.5 to 7.0 criteria well.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is coherent overall with a clear structure, featuring an introduction, distinct body paragraphs for each view, and a concluding paragraph. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate ideas. Cohesive devices are employed, such as 'On the other hand' and 'In conclusion', though referencing and transitions within paragraphs can occasionally feel mechanical or repetitive, as seen with phrases like 'For instance' and 'For example' closely following one another. Logical progression is generally maintained, but clearer referencing would enhance the flow between sentences.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student displays an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, attempting less common items such as 'contentious topic', 'innovations', and 'diverse perspectives'. However, there are notable word choice and collocation inaccuracies throughout the text, such as saying 'cooperation or competition both plays' instead of 'play', and 'with their rivals' or 'in favor of the public'. Spelling is generally good, but minor vocabulary errors and awkward phrasing prevent the score from reaching a higher band level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional structures. However, grammatical errors are frequent, including punctuation omissions, run-on sentences, and subject-verb agreement issues (e.g., 'people who believes' instead of 'believe', and 'have their owns advantages'). Punctuation around clauses is occasionally faulty, leading to slight readability issues. While communication is not severely impeded, the frequency of these grammatical slips keeps the performance within the Band 6 bracket.

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