Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-28
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)
Many people think that competition at work, at school and in the daily life is a good thing but others believe that we should try to cooperate more, rather than competing against each other. In my opinion, competition is a great thing to work harder but if it is not a healthy competition it can occur toxic environmnet.
Comepetiton can occur everywhere around the world like at work, at school, at business and in daily life. Comepetiton is a good thing because it makes a person work harder than its limit. For exmaple, a person is earning a good amount from the business. After seeing that it encourages many others to started new business and start doing something in their life. Also if there is not any competiton a person will start to think there is no one to stop him and do the unusal or do something that is very unnecessary. Like at school a competition can make other students study more than their capacity resulting in benefit to themselves.
Even though competiton makes people improve themselves, sometimes it can result in disadvantage to the competitior. Some people do get jealous of the person and start to make plans about downfall of him or her. That will surely can be a dark side of the competition which will not benfit anyone. In that type of situation, it is better to cooperate rather than competing against each other.
In conclusion, competition has both advantages and disadvantages according to the mindset of the competitor. Taking the competition as a healthy motivation to work could produce a great result otherwise iti s better to cooperate.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the benefits of competition and the need for cooperation, while also providing a clear personal opinion. The ideas are relevant and supported with examples, such as business growth and school performance. However, some arguments are slightly underdeveloped and generalize broadly, placing the response firmly in the Band 6 territory. For instance, the discussion on how competition prevents people from doing 'unusual' or unnecessary things is somewhat vague. Overall, the prompt requirements are adequately covered.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear logical progression from introduction to body paragraphs and conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different facets of the argument. However, cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or repetitive (e.g., 'Also if there is not any competiton...', 'Even though competiton makes...'), and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as pronoun use like 'after seeing that it encourages many others'. These issues align with the Band 6 descriptors.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'toxic environment', 'capacity', and 'motivation'. However, there are notable spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'Comepetiton', 'environmnet', 'unusal', and 'iti s'. Furthermore, collocations are sometimes awkward, such as 'occur toxic environment'. These errors do not seriously impede communication, reflecting a Band 5.5 to 6.0 level.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional structures ('if it is not a healthy competition it can occur toxic environmnet') and subordinate clauses. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement ('a person is... to started new business'), articles, and prepositions. While meaning is generally conveyed, the grammatical control is inconsistent, which places this aspect at Band 5.5.
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