Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-27

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)

Competition is the only thing that makes people go crazy over small prize. It also makes the human steady,competitive,reliable and confident. It is often argued by many people that doing competition at work, at school and in daily life is a good thing while some believe we should try to negotiate in this subject, rather than competing.

Competition has both advantages and disadvantages. It's not a bad thing to have a competitor in our life. Competition makes a person confident and better at their work. It makes us believe that we can do anything with a good determination and practice. Having competition at work helps us become more better at our work and helps us create a professional boundry with our co-workers ,while competing at home or school makes us more competetive and better. It makes us reliable and trustworthy enough to make people believe that we can do anything and they can rely on us.

On the other hand, competition makes people insecure about themselves. Seeing more better person before you can make anyone feel bad about themselves. Trying and failing makes it worse to handle. Having competition makes the individuals thinks everyone is our competitors and our enemies. It impacts on people relationship in their work place, school or in their daily life. You start to feel depressed,insecure,not enough and not worthy of the people behind you. Having competition may help people get better but it is never a good solution to be a good human being.

In conclusion, I think having a competition is a good thing, but having a simple eco-friendly balanced environment is also needed for a good society. We should let the competitors live and also cooperate with everyone choices and boundries, rather than competing against eachother. I believe having a competition is a good thing but living our life fully without insecurity is a better way to live a life.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the view that competition is beneficial and the view that we should cooperate more, while also presenting a clear personal opinion in the introduction and conclusion. Ideas are relevant, but some points lack full extension and are slightly over-generalized, such as the claim that competition makes a person reliable and trustworthy. The writer attempts to explore both sides—highlighting confidence and professional growth on one hand, and insecurity and strained relationships on the other—meeting the requirements for a Band 6.0 or 6.5. However, due to some under-development of supporting examples and a tendency to make broad assertions without deep elaboration, the overall task response aligns most closely with Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear paragraph-by-paragraph structure that separates the introduction, the arguments for competition, the arguments against competition, and the conclusion. However, the progression of ideas is sometimes hindered by abrupt transitions and faulty cohesive devices. For instance, the phrase 'negotiate in this subject' in the introduction is awkward and does not link effectively to the prompt's focus on cooperation. Additionally, referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the sudden shift to 'everyone is our competitors' in the third paragraph. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct themes, but the overall mechanical nature of the cohesive links keeps this criterion at a Band 6.0 level.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'determination', 'insecure', and 'eco-friendly'. However, there are noticeable inaccuracies in word choice, collocation, and phrasing throughout the text. Examples include 'doing competition' instead of 'competing', 'professional boundry' (which also contains a spelling error), 'more better person', and 'eco-friendly balanced environment' when describing social dynamics. While these lexical errors do not impede overall communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent the response from achieving a Band 7.0, making Band 6.0 a fair and accurate assessment.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at subordination and relative clauses, such as 'It is often argued by many people that doing competition... while some believe...'. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several noticeable errors, including missing articles ('Seeing more better person before you'), incorrect comparative forms ('more better'), subject-verb agreement issues ('the individuals thinks'), and punctuation errors like missing spaces after commas ('depressed,insecure,not enough'). These errors cause occasional difficulty for the reader and reflect typical Band 5.5 to 6.0 characteristics, warranting a Band 6.0 as simple structures are generally well-controlled despite frequent slips in more complex constructions.

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