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)

Some individuals suggest, that we should treat every task as a challenge at our school and offices, whereas some argue that we should collaborate with each other , and work as team, while both views offer some advantages, but i my opinion we should cooperate with each other.

On one hand, a part of community recommend that we should compete with other at professional places. It is considerable suggestion. Because competion will assist us to build more productive environment, as majority of people will show competitiveness at work place. If we start to reward every person for their work, in the form of higher status or wages . They will some more interest. For instance, in office, we start to pay bonus for every project completed by employees. Eventually, they will show more attention toward their work.

On the other hand, the other half argue that instead of competition, we should cooperate with each other, and improve ambience of our workplaces, which is a great advice for spreading positivity at our professional places, That will definitely assist us to gain success in our relative fields. Team work not only help us progress, but it also help us improve our relationships between employees. While competition at work places is great for our progress, it will not help us to build relationships between employees.

In conclusion, competition will only help us to gain progress in practical life,whereas team work will assist us to gain success and improve our relationship with others, also it will provide us better connectivity between each other.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the view that competition is beneficial and the view that cooperation should be prioritised, while also stating a clear personal opinion in the introduction and conclusion. The ideas presented are relevant, such as discussing how competition creates a more productive environment and how cooperation fosters better relationships among employees. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive, which prevents the essay from reaching higher bands. For instance, the arguments regarding productivity and relationships are stated clearly but lack deep elaboration or diverse examples. Nonetheless, the task is adequately addressed, and a clear position is maintained throughout, fitting the Band 6 profile well.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a recognisable introduction, body paragraphs addressing each viewpoint, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used to separate distinct ideas, which helps readability. However, cohesive devices are sometimes faulty or mechanical, such as the frequent use of comma splices and run-on structures like 'while both views offer some advantages, but i my opinion...' Additionally, referencing is occasionally unclear, and logical progression between sentences can be disjointed. While the essay is clearly structured, the mechanical use of transitions and punctuation errors in linking ideas keeps it at a Band 5.5 to 6.0 level.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common items such as 'productivity environment', 'competitiveness', and 'ambience of our workplaces'. However, there are notable inaccuracies in word choice, collocation, and word form, such as 'relative fields' instead of 'respective fields', and 'competion' misspelled. Phrases like 'show some interest' and 'gain success' are somewhat simplistic. While communication is not impeded and the vocabulary is minimally sufficient to convey the main arguments, frequent lexical imprecisions restrict the score to Band 5.5, rounding down to a solid Band 5.5 description of adequate yet flawed word control.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some variety. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, featuring frequent errors in punctuation, capitalization, and sentence boundaries. There are numerous comma splices, such as 'Some individuals suggest, that we should treat...' and '...rewards for every person for their work, in the form of higher status or wages . They will some more interest.' Errors also include missing auxiliary verbs ('They will some more interest') and subject-verb agreement issues. Although the meaning is generally understandable despite these errors, the high frequency of structural slips means the majority of sentences are not error-free, aligning closely with the Band 5 descriptors.

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