Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-25

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)

Many think that competitive environment at work, at school and in daily life is a good thing, while others argue rather than competing we should cooperate with each other more. This essay will examine both perspestive before ariving at a well-reasoned conclusion.

Nowadays every sector has competitive environment from health to education due to this competition we as human have overcome many difficulties. A competitive environment help us to grow and face numorous problems and also help us find new solution and innovation for it. For instance, many of the discoveries in fields of science was possible due to the fact that there was competition among people related to it. Similarly, students tends to out perform in specific subject if there is competition. So, In my opinion competitive environment is really advantageous for us to out perform and individual development.

On the other hand, cooperating help individuals who are falling behind to caught up and reach there potential. Cooperating help us build social connection and also develope communication. In a cooperative environment all individuals will produce better results which will help them grow as a team unlike in competitive environment. In this environment people will not be on pressure to out perform each other. For instance, a company with cooperative environment will have less stressed employed and a helpful nature which attract new employes and it is best for overall development. In my opinion cooperative environment is good for overall development.

In conclusion, both environments have its own flaws but for individual development and self realisation competitive is best. Therefore, I believe that in this age where if you lack behind you are out competion is the better option.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both competition and cooperation, and the student presents a clear position throughout. Ideas are generally extended, such as the mention of scientific discoveries and company environments, though some points tend to over-generalise or lack deeper elaboration. For instance, the transition from discussing workplace cooperation to concluding that competition is best for individual development happens rather abruptly in the conclusion. Overall, the task is addressed adequately and a clear stance is maintained, positioning this response firmly within Band 6.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay has a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the two opposing views. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. There are repetitive transitions such as 'In my opinion' appearing closely together in different paragraphs, and some referencing is unclear, such as 'for it' and 'reach there potential'. Cohesive devices are present but lack flexibility, leading to a somewhat choppy flow in places. This corresponds closely to the Band 6 descriptors.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common items such as 'advantageous', 'outperform', and 'innovation'. However, there are notable spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'perspestive' instead of perspective, 'ariving' instead of arriving, 'numorous' instead of numerous, 'tends' instead of tend, 'caught up' instead of catch up, 'develope' instead of develop, 'employed' instead of employees, and 'competion' instead of competition. These errors do not seriously impede communication, but their frequency prevents the score from reaching a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some variety in structure. However, there are frequent grammatical and punctuation errors. Examples include missing articles ('a competitive environment'), pluralisation issues ('many of the discoveries... was possible'), subject-verb agreement errors ('cooperating help', 'both environments have its'), and homophone confusions ('reach there potential', 'lack behind'). Punctuation is also weak, particularly regarding run-on sentences in the body paragraphs. These errors occasionally cause difficulty for the reader, placing the grammar score at Band 5.5.

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