Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

Most people argue that competition between students, colleagues and individuals encourage good performance. Other oppose this approach, and promote cooperation and understanding between them. According to my perspective, healthy competition among people is important while competition in terms of letting down others, bring negative outcomes.

Schools are structured and designed in a way that promote competition so the productivity and grades can be enhanced. However, every individual has it's own capabilities, strengths and weaknesses, similarly some children are naturally more intelligent then their peers propbably just because of the genetics, but parents and teachers assess them in the same way irrespect of their individuality and uniqueness, that leads to a very stressing situation for children. It can effect student's mental health negatively and make them insecure about themselves. A competition with no clear boundaries can directly harm their whole personality moreover it can cause negative emotions in children for instance jealousy, frustration, guilt, emotional distress and hatred.

In professional life, competition between colleagues is very fimiliar, administration foster the competition to increase performances of their employees, therefore companies offer insentive, promotional rewards and yearly benefits, that some times toxify the work environment and people starts seeing each other as rivals, that negatively effect the coordination, team work and synergy. It also effect employes wellbeing at workplace. Neverthless healthy competition set a ground for others to work hard and achieve their goals. Competitives can inspire students and working professionals to boost their urge for success and use their maximum potential to grow.

In conclusion, competitive environment is important for some extent, it motivates human to grow faster and improve their skills and knowledge to survive in this rapidly growing world, but if the competition is not managed appropriately and no boundaries are set, it can be detrimental to both children and working professionals. Consequently people will face severe mental health issues like stress, anxiety and emotional exaustion.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both the views that competition is beneficial and that cooperation should be preferred, while also providing a clear personal opinion in the introduction and conclusion. Ideas are extended and supported with relevant examples from education and the workplace. For instance, the writer discusses how school environments can lead to stress and negative emotions like jealousy, while also acknowledging that healthy competition drives performance. However, there is a slight tendency to over-generalise in parts, such as attributing academic differences solely to genetics without further nuance. Overall, the task is well addressed, meeting the requirements for Band 7.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay presents a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. Each paragraph has a distinct focus, moving from an introduction to body paragraphs discussing education and the professional sphere, followed by a summary conclusion. Cohesive devices are used reasonably well, such as 'However', 'Moreover', and 'In conclusion', though referencing and transitions can occasionally feel a bit mechanical or abrupt. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately to separate the distinct ideas. The progression of thought is easy to follow, supporting a solid Band 6.5 or 7.0 rating. Minor issues with referencing ('between them', 'it can effect') prevent it from reaching a higher band.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate to sufficient range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common lexical items such as 'detrimental', 'emotional distress', 'synergy', and 'exhaustion'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, such as 'encourage' instead of 'encourage' (subject-verb agreement issue aside, the base form), 'propbably', 'irrespect', 'stressing' instead of 'stressful', 'fimiliar', 'insentive', 'employes', and 'exaustion'. While these errors do not impede communication, their frequency prevents the lexical score from reaching Band 7.0. The range is sufficient to convey precise meaning despite the slips.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some ability to handle subordinate clauses and complex structures. There are, however, frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement ('competition... encourage', 'people starts', 'competition set'), possessive determiners ('it's own' instead of 'its'), and word forms ('effect' used as a verb instead of 'affect'). Punctuation also shows occasional run-on tendencies. Although these errors do not severely impede communication, they occur regularly enough to restrict the score to a Band 6.0 under the official descriptors.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.