Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-23

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 people argues that there should be a competition at work, at school and in daily life is a good thing. Others think that we all should try to cooperate more with each other, rather than just competing with each other. I personally believe that a healthy competition is crucial for the proper nourishment of child. Reasons are mentioned below to support my opinion.

Initially, i think that there should be a competiton spirit in students among each other in order to succeed in academics. Students especially who are under 18 the age should create an compitent atmosphere in the class. In this way, the productivity inceases amongst the children. Which ultimately make their brain sharp and strong. For example, schools should arrange a quiz competiton every month to test out the IQ ability of students.

Furthermore, we should have a slight competition in daily life also. For example, if a person is actor and works in a particular industry he should be insecure of other actors in a positive way like there should be a challenge for him to perform even well than his fellow actors. Due to this definately his acting skills will improve and he will be able to do much more in the future.

Addionally, the other group of people prefer peace and suggest to cooperate with one another. Because they think that rivalries always end up negatively. And they think that the outcome will be more stronger if we work things out united. As they say union is strength.

To sum up, I believe that there is no need of such serious competiton in young age but a healthy one. We should definately coorperate with each other and help our fellows where they need us.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt by discussing both competition and cooperation, and the writer provides a clear personal opinion regarding healthy competition in childhood. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive. For instance, the paragraph on daily life abruptly shifts to an actor's perspective without fully exploring broader daily life contexts, and the discussion of the opposing view on cooperation in the fourth paragraph is underdeveloped. While a clear position is maintained throughout, the supporting arguments require greater elaboration and depth to reach higher bands. Therefore, a Band 6.0 is appropriate.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a generally coherent overall arrangement with clear attempts at paragraphing to separate different ideas, such as the introduction of academic competition, daily life competition, and the counter-argument about cooperation. However, logical progression is occasionally hindered by abrupt transitions and mechanical cohesive devices like 'Initially, i think' and 'Addionally'. Referencing and linking between sentences can be repetitive, such as the frequent reliance on 'For example' followed by short, simple sentences. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to structure the response, but paragraph internal cohesion needs more flexibility and smoother connectors to achieve a Band 7.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with attempts at less common items such as 'nourishment', 'competent atmosphere', and 'productivity'. However, there are notable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'Several people argues' instead of 'argue', 'competiton spirit' instead of 'competitive spirit', and 'compitent atmosphere'. Furthermore, spelling errors like 'Addionally' and 'coorperate' appear. While the range is sufficient to communicate the main ideas clearly, the frequency of lexical inaccuracies and awkward phrasing prevents the response from achieving a higher score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but control over grammar is inconsistent. There are several noticeable grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('Several people argues'), fragment sentences ('Which ultimately make their brain sharp and strong'), and awkward phrasing ('under 18 the age'). Punctuation and capitalization are also flawed, notably with the lowercase 'i'. Although these errors rarely completely impede communication, their frequency means that error-free sentences are not in the majority, which places the response firmly at Band 5.5.

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