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)

There are many people who think that competition in daily life tasks,at work and at school is good and valueable thing.Many people withstand with this kind of thinkings and have strong believe on it.Meanwhile,there are many others people who think and condem a strong that we should try to cooperate more, rather than relying on these kind of thinkings.In this essay, i wouldl discuss both types of views and would give my opinion.

The people who think that competition is a good thing and it should be done by everyone in daily life or at school and at work.I think competition is good in studies because of it students more concentate on studies rather than doing other kind of bad things.Due to competition, a student first pirority is to stand first in the class and become knowdalge able and due to which he can answer any kind of questions ask by teachers or people.But one thing that should not be underestimate that this kind of thing should be done in studies, rather than in real life. We should not make any kind of rivalry with any one. The next thing is competition at work. People usually compete at work place to make rankings better in front of bosses or basically for there promotions in the offices. Some people take it to seriously and become enemies in real life. Due to it, they would try cross each other in yearly or monthly rankings and they would spend more time in offices to make their projects more successful than other employes.They would not try to help eachother in making projects and there first priority would be to become more sucessful than other. In these kind of competition they would not able to spend their precious time with family or friends. They leisure time would be spend in the offices. The competition in daily life tasks with other is right in only one condition if competition is all about helping needy people. Otherwise, in daily life competition is a bad thing because it could ruin your mental health and could destroy your precious time. The people who compete in daily life to seek someone's intentions is not a really good thing.

The other people who think that we should be cooperative rather than competing is good thing. We should be cooperative in all fields of life. People who are cooperative are seen to be more successful. They would be available any time to help others. They will try there best to deal with any kind of hardship standing in the way of others and would try to make a way to get out from that hardship for others.

In my opinion, people should be cooperative more rather than relying on any kind of competition with others. If the competition is all about helping others and withstanding with them in time of difficulty they may compete. But competition at work,at school or in daily life is not a good thing. Competing with some one in daily life,at school and at work is like defaming others. A person should be free from any type of competition in life and he should try his best cooperate with other in life. He should be helpful in any kind of problem and should advise others to become a good person and how to become cooperative to others.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The student addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views on competition and cooperation and providing a clear personal opinion in the introduction and conclusion. Ideas are presented regarding education, the workplace, and daily life, satisfying the basic requirements of the prompt. However, the development of ideas tends to be repetitive and lacks depth, often relying on general assertions rather than well-supported arguments. For instance, the discussion on school competition mentions that students concentrate more, but this point is not fully extended with sophisticated reasoning or concrete examples. Similarly, the exploration of workplace competition circles back to similar themes of mental health and social relationships without offering a nuanced progression of thought. While the task is adequately addressed, the overall development aligns closely with the Band 6 descriptors due to under-developed main points and a tendency to generalize.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a generally coherent overall arrangement, with a clear introduction, body paragraphs discussing distinct areas (school, work, daily life), and a conclusion. Paragraphing is utilized to separate these ideas, though the second body paragraph is overly long and crams multiple concepts together. Cohesive devices are used, but they are frequently mechanical or repetitive, such as the constant use of 'The people who think', 'The next thing is', and 'The other people'. Furthermore, referencing and transitional phrases lack smooth progression, resulting in choppy sentence connections. For example, sentences within the workplace paragraph jump abruptly from promotions to family time and mental health without adequate bridging. Overall, the organizational structure is visible, but the execution of cohesion and paragraphing limits the score to Band 5.5, rounded to 5.5.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range to communicate basic ideas, attempting some less common words and phrases such as 'rivalry', 'defaming', and 'hardship'. However, there are frequent errors in word choice, collocation, and spelling throughout the text, including 'valueable', 'thinkings', 'condem a strong', 'knowdalge able', 'pirority', 'employes', 'sucessful', and 'intentions' (used where 'intent' or 'motives' was likely intended). These lexical inaccuracies and non-standard forms occasionally cause strain for the reader, though communication remains mostly clear. Because the errors are noticeable and span multiple word categories, the lexical profile fits the Band 5 descriptor comfortably.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but control over grammar and punctuation is weak. There are frequent grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('questions ask by teachers', 'There leisure time would be spend'), incorrect prepositions, missing articles, and awkward phrasing ('withstand with this kind of thinkings', 'try cross each other'). Punctuation is also problematic, with missing spaces after commas (e.g., 'tasks,at work') and run-on sentences that lack proper clause separation. While the meaning can usually be deciphered, the high density of structural errors and awkward formulations prevents the text from achieving a Band 6, placing it firmly at Band 5.

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