Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

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 priortised. I strongly believe that competion in every aspect of life can have negative impacts, however a healthy competition should be encouraged for growth. This essay will discuss both sides of views and reasons for my opinion.

On the one hand, people believe competition 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 have adverse effects which include promoting rivalry or continuous conflicts among class fellows or colleagues. Moreover, competition can increase stress levels which negatively affects mental health. For instance, there was news that three students in my country committed suicide and the reason was extreme academic stress of performing better than others. Therefore, I think competition in every field of life should not be recommended as it can provoke rivalry and can increase stress levels.

On the other hand, some people believe that we should try to encourage cooperation more, rather than competing against our fellows every day. As it has a 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 priortised however a healthy competition can be encouraged among colleagues at workplaces or among class fellows in schools.

To conclude, I firmly believe that people should not promote competing against each other in daily routine as it has a negative influence on mental health and can cause conflicts, however a fair competition can be encouraged at some times.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The student addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both views on competition versus cooperation and clearly presenting their own opinion from the introduction through to the conclusion. The position is maintained throughout the essay. Ideas are extended and supported, such as providing an example of extreme academic stress leading to suicide to illustrate the negative impacts of competition. However, there is a slight tendency to over-generalise and some arguments, particularly regarding cooperation, remain somewhat repetitive rather than fully developed into distinct, nuanced points. Overall, the response meets the criteria for Band 6.5, rounding up to Band 7.0 for addressing all task requirements with a clear position and supporting examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay demonstrates a clear overall progression and logical organisation. Paragraphing is used appropriately, with an introduction, two body paragraphs exploring the two contrasting views, and a summary conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'To conclude' are employed to structure the response, though some transitions like starting sentences with 'As it has a positivie influence' are grammatically fragmented or mechanically linked. Referencing is generally clear, though minor instances of faulty cohesion occur, such as the dangling clause 'As it has a positivie influence' in the third paragraph. Overall, the structural flow is clear and coherent, fitting the Band 6.5 to 7.0 range well.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, successfully attempting less common items and topic-specific terms such as 'professional life', 'educational life', 'rivalry', and 'productivity'. However, there are several spelling and word-choice errors, including 'priortised' (prioritised), 'competion' (competition), 'class fellows' (classmates), and 'positivie' (positive). While these errors do not impede communication, they reflect a lack of precision that prevents the lexical score from reaching the higher bands. The variety is sufficient for flexibility and precision, but control over less common vocabulary needs improvement.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at subordination and relative clauses, such as 'while others argue that coordination should be priortised' and 'which includes promoting rivalry or continuous conflicts'. There are, however, several grammatical errors and punctuation awkwardnesses, including fragment sentences like 'As it has a positivie influence such as coordination among collegues can increase the productivity...' and spelling-related slips. Despite these errors, they rarely impede communication and the meaning remains clear throughout. The student successfully employs complex structures, justifying a solid Band 6.5 score.

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