Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-26
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)
Nowadays, many people think that competing against each other is beneficial for their professional life, educational life and in daily routine while others argue that coordination should be priortized. I strongly believe that competion in every aspects of life can have negative impacts however a healthy competion should be encouraged for growth. This essay will discuss both side of views and reasons for my opinion.
On the one hand, people believe competion is essential as it motivates them such as it encourages students and employees to perform better in exams and at work, respectively. However, it can also has adverse effects which includes promoting rivalry or continuous conflicts among class fellows or collegues. Moreover, competion can increase stress level which negatively affects mental health. For instance, there was news that three students in my country commited sucide and the reason was an extreme academic stress of performing better than others. Therefore, I think competion in every field of life should not be recommended as it can provoke rivalry and can increase stress.
On the other hand, some people believe that we should try to encourage cooperation more, rather than competing against our fellows everyday. As it has positivie influence such as coordination among collegues can increase the productivity and teamwork can also reduce levels of stress. People can develop strong relations and can do better problem-solving. Hence, in my perspective, coordination should be priortized however a healthy competion can encouraged among collgues or school fellows
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The response addresses both views regarding competition and cooperation, and the writer provides a clear personal opinion in the introduction and conclusion. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive, particularly regarding stress and rivalry. Furthermore, the length requirement is not met, as the response contains only 245 words, falling short of the 250-word minimum. This under-length impacts the overall fullness of the task response. While the main parts of the prompt are covered, the lack of lexical and conceptual extension in the body paragraphs places this at a Band 5.5 level.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The essay has a clear overall progression with standard paragraphing, utilizing introductory, body, and concluding sections. Cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', 'Moreover', and 'Hence' are used to structure the text, although some transitions feel slightly mechanical or repetitive ('some people believe', 'believes'). Paragraphing is generally appropriate, separating the two opposing views effectively. However, referencing is occasionally imprecise, and the logical flow between sentences within the second body paragraph could be tighter. This performance corresponds to a Band 6.0.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, attempting words like 'beneficial', 'coordination', and 'productivity'. However, there are numerous spelling errors throughout the text, including 'priortized' instead of 'prioritized', 'competion' instead of 'competition', 'collegues' instead of 'colleagues', and 'commited sucide' instead of 'committed suicide'. These lexical inaccuracies and persistent spelling mistakes reflect Band 5 level descriptors, where noticeable errors can cause some distraction for the reader, despite the attempt to use less common vocabulary.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'I strongly believe that competition in every aspect of life can have negative impacts however a healthy competition should be encouraged...' However, punctuation errors are present, particularly comma splices ('...impacts however a healthy...'). There are also grammatical errors such as 'it can also has adverse effects' (should be 'can also have') and missing articles ('an extreme academic stress'). Although meaning is generally communicated, frequent minor structural and grammatical errors keep the grammar score at a Band 5.5.
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