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 a good things among people either at school or at the workplace, On the other hand some people believe that we should try to cooperate instead of competing with our colleagues and classmates. In this essay, I will discuss both the views and give my opinion.

First and foremost, in recent times getting a role in an organization is much complicated because of high competition in the job market, organizations only hire skilled people so people think they should compete with each other to get a job. Moreover, humans think competition helps them to learn things faster, and to complete our-long term goals. In education children can compete with their classmates to get a better grade which has higher impact on their academic progress. Sometime competing can be a reason for stress among employees or students as they are continously thinking 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 of competing with each other cooperation can lead to doing any task more efficiently even before the deadline as a result, they also get promotion and get bonuses and appreciation. Additionally, schools believe that cooperation and competition are equally important because it can help children to work in a team to achieve the same goals, so school and colleges organize events in which they have to work with their teammates and it can boost their creativity and decision-making skills.

I personally believe that, in some extent cooperation is important to achieve the same goal and also helps to complete any particular task very quickly and efficiently. However, competition has greater impact than cooperation as it helps 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 much less time with efficiently.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both competition and cooperation in different contexts such as work and school, and successfully presents a clear personal position throughout the essay. In the second paragraph, the writer notes that 'competition is a good things' and explains how it helps individuals learn faster and reach long-term goals. The third paragraph balances this by exploring how cooperation leads to efficient teamwork and boosts creativity. However, the development of ideas leans towards over-generalisation rather than deeply explored examples, which places the response firmly within Band 6 territory. The conclusion also succinctly restates the main arguments while affirming the writer's stance. Overall, the task is answered adequately with a clear perspective.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a logical progression from introduction to body paragraphs and a final conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately, with each body paragraph dedicated to a distinct viewpoint or setting. Cohesive devices such as 'First and foremost', 'Moreover', and 'On the other hand' are employed to guide the reader through the arguments. Nevertheless, cohesion sometimes feels slightly mechanical, and referencing is occasionally faulty, such as the pronoun shift in 'to complete our-long term goals' or the abrupt comma splice in 'workplace, On the other hand'. Despite these minor flaws in mechanical linking and punctuation, the progression of ideas remains clear and easy to follow throughout the response.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating topic-specific terms such as 'corporate culture', 'efficiently', 'decision-making skills', and 'appreciation'. There are several attempts to use less common items, though some word choices and collocations suffer from inaccuracy, for instance, 'getting a role in an organization is much complicated' instead of 'much more complicated', and 'good things' instead of 'a good thing'. Additionally, minor typographical issues like 'continously' and 'our-long term' are present. However, these lexical errors and spelling slips do not impede communication, as the writer's core meaning remains clear throughout the essay, justifying a solid Band 6 score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including subordinate clauses introduced by 'because of', 'instead of', and 'in which'. While there are frequent error-free sentences, several grammatical errors and punctuation mistakes persist. Examples include missing articles or incorrect agreements like 'competition is a good things', comma splices such as 'workplace, On the other hand', and awkward phrasing like 'in some extent cooperation is important' instead of 'to some extent'. There is also a minor spelling slip in 'continously'. Fortunately, these errors in grammar and punctuation are generally non-systematic and rarely impede communication, allowing the reader to easily grasp the intended meaning.

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