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)

It is widely believed that competition is the good things among people either at school and at workplace, on the other hand some people believe that we should try to cooperate instead competing with our colleague and classmate. In this essay, I will discuss both the view and give my opinion.

First and foremost, in recent times getting role in organization is much more complicated because of high competition in job market, organizations only hire skilled people so, people think they should compete with each other to getting a job. Moreover, humans think competition help them to get learn think faster, also for complete our long term goals. In education children can compete with their classmate to get better grade which having higher impact on their curriculum. Some time competing can be a reason for stress among employees or students as they are continuesly think about the result as well as promotion.

On the other hand, in corporate culture people have to work in a team to achieve a common goal, so instead competing with each other cooperation can lead to do any task more efficiently even before the deadline as result, they also get promotion and get bonuses and appreciation. Additionally, schools believe that cooperation and competition is equally important because it can help children to work in a team to achieve same goals, so school and colleges organize events in which they have to work with their teammate and it can boost their creativity and decision making skill.

I personally believe that, in some extent cooperation is important to achieve same goal and also help to complete any particular task very quickly and efficiently. However, competition having grater impact than cooperation as it help to improve our skills and complete goals.

In conclusion, competition helps people to complete and achieve their own goals and improve their academics or getting promotion while, cooperation is beneficial for completing any particular task in very less time with more efficiently.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the views that competition is positive and that cooperation should be preferred, and the student provides a clear personal opinion in the introduction and conclusion. Ideas are relevant, such as discussing job market pressures, corporate teamwork, and educational benefits. However, some ideas are a bit repetitive and under-developed, relying on generalised assertions rather than deep elaboration. For instance, the transition from educational competition to stress is abrupt, and the conclusion's final thought is slightly disjointed. Despite these minor limitations, the core requirements of the prompt are fully covered, aligning well with the Band 6.5 or Band 7 descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a clear overall progression with standard paragraphing dividing the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Cohesive devices are introduced adequately, using transition signals like 'First and foremost', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusion'. However, referencing and cohesion can feel somewhat mechanical or repetitive (e.g., excessive use of 'and also' or 'so,'). Furthermore, pronoun referencing occasionally lacks precision, such as when 'they' refers ambiguously across different nouns. Paragraph structure is maintained, but internal flow suffers from run-on sentences and occasional punctuation issues, placing it comfortably in the Band 6 category.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student attempts a range of vocabulary suitable for an academic context, including terms such as 'corporate culture', 'efficiently', 'appreciation', and 'decision making skill'. However, there are noticeable word-choice and collocation errors throughout the text, such as 'is the good things' instead of 'a good thing', 'getting role' instead of 'securing a role', and 'get learn think faster' which is ungrammatical. Less common lexical items are attempted but lack precision and natural control. Spelling is generally acceptable, but the vocabulary range remains limited to Band 6 due to frequent awkward phrasings and minor lexical inaccuracies.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms. The writer attempts complex structures using subordinate clauses (e.g., 'because of high competition in job market', 'even before the deadline as result, they also get promotion'). However, these structures frequently contain grammatical errors, missing articles (e.g., 'in job market'), and incorrect verb forms (e.g., 'competition help them to get learn think faster', 'competition having grater impact'). Punctuation is often weak, leading to run-on sentences and comma splices, especially in the body paragraphs. While meaning is generally conveyed, the high frequency of grammatical slips prevents the score from reaching Band 6.5.

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