Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-24

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)

The comparison of competition and cooperation is a very interesting topic. Both have its value and importance and different areas of life. Somewhere competition is important and somewhere cooperaton is important. I'll be discussing both of these scenarios in this task.

Firstly, if we talk about competition, it is very importatnt at different areas of life, where one has lost interest in any task of his life. The competition is the motive which pushes a man to move forward and make him able to cross the finish line in the race of his life. For example, if we consider a school going boy. He might have no interest in studies but the fear of being failed or to beat his peer make him ready to struggle to get good grades. Same goes for a sportsman, his performance is solely for the interest of his team, but at a time the booster to his performance is added when a competitior is raised against him. He might not shows it publicaly but inside he always tries to beat his opponent and achieve the medals and badges. An example to this is Ronaldo vs Messi comparison which makes both players, legends of their time.

Same if we talk about cooperation, at different points in life you need to cooperate with your colleagues to perform various tasks because its not always the same thing that you ca do alone. There are different tasks in life i.e. in schools, at workplaces etc to examine your teamwork and your leadership and administrative skills. For example, a single person can never hold the whole system of a society. He needs a saff under him which would help him regulating the law and order in the society under his command.

So, in this way both competition and comparison are important and dfferent parts of life, according to the need of the time and task to be performed and none could be neglected in order to support the other.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both competition and cooperation, and includes a concluding stance, though the personal opinion is somewhat implicit rather than explicitly stated upfront. The ideas presented, such as the motivation provided by competition in academics and sports and the necessity of teamwork in societal functions, are relevant and extended with examples like the Ronaldo versus Messi comparison. However, some arguments remain slightly under-developed, and there are occasional over-generalisations, such as stating that 'a single person can never hold the whole system of a society.' Overall, the response meets the criteria for Band 6.0 as it addresses all parts of the task with relevant ideas, even though some are under-developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt to structure the response into an introduction, body paragraphs addressing each view, and a conclusion. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty and mechanical. For instance, the transition phrases like 'Firstly, if we talk about competition...' and 'Same if we talk about cooperation...' are quite basic and repetitive. Paragraphing is used, but the progression of ideas within the paragraphs could be smoother, and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the ambiguous pronoun use in 'Both have its value'. Overall, the organizational structure aligns best with a Band 6.0 descriptor.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, touching upon relevant concepts like 'cooperation', 'competition', 'colleagues', and 'leadership'. There are noticeable attempts to use less common vocabulary, such as 'administering' or 'booster', but these are occasionally marked by word-choice and collocation errors, such as 'competitior is raised against him' instead of 'competitor is introduced'. Spelling errors also appear, including 'importatnt' and 'publicaly'. Despite these inaccuracies, the vocabulary is minimally sufficient to convey the intended meaning, supporting a Band 5.5 score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'He might have no interest in studies but the fear of being failed or to beat his peer make him ready...'. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several agreement errors, such as 'Both have its value' instead of 'their value', and mechanical issues like 'fear of being failed'. Punctuation and article usage also show frequent minor slips. Because the mix of structures contains frequent errors that occasionally strain comprehension, the grammar score is best placed at Band 5.0.

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