Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

Competition is considered by some people to be an essential part of office, education and everyday life. While others believe that the cooperation is more beneficial than competing with others. Both approaches have their own advantage and this essay will discuss both views before explaining why I believe that cooperation should generally be given more importance.

On the one hand, competition is to encourage people to work harder and improve the performance. When individuals compete with each other they may set higher goals and make greater efforts to achieve. There are may examples for that like students who compete for higher grades may become more discipline and spend more time to study. Similarly, competition between employees can encourage them to develop new skills and complete their responsibilities efficiently. In businesses, competition between companies can also lead to better products and services because organizations have to improve their quality and respond to customer's needs.

On the other hand, cooperation allows people to combine thier knowledge, skills and experiences to acheive a common goal. This can be particularly useful when a task is complex and demands different area of expertise. For instance a software development projects usually invovles programmers, designers and data specialists working together. If each person focuses only on outperforming others communication may suffer and the overall project will be affected. In schools and workplaces, cooperation can also create a supportive environment where people are willing to share their ideas and help each other to solve problems.

In my opinion, competion can be useful when it motivates the individual to improve themselves, but excessive competition can create unnecessary pressure and conflict. Therefore, I believe that cooperation should play a greater role in daily life. While healthy competition can be used when it encourages people to acheive high standards. A balanced approach can allow individuals to improve their own performance without damaging relationships with others.

In conclusion, competition can motivate people to work harder and acheive better results, whereas cooperation encourages people to share their skills and work towards common objectives. Although both have a place in society, I believe that cooperation should generally be priortised, with competition being used in a healthy and constructive way.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response successfully addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both the benefits of competition and cooperation, and clearly states a personal position in the introduction and conclusion. Ideas are relevant and extended well, such as exploring competition in education, employment, and business, as well as cooperation in complex projects like software development. The position is maintained throughout the essay. However, some arguments, such as the brief mention of how cooperation creates supportive environments, could have been pushed slightly further with more specific examples. Overall, the task is well covered, satisfying the requirements for a Band 7.0.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay is logically organised with a clear overall progression. Each paragraph has a distinct focus: an introduction, a body paragraph on competition, a body paragraph on cooperation, a personal opinion paragraph, and a concluding summary. Cohesive devices are used reasonably well to connect ideas, such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusion'. However, there are some minor mechanical issues and phrasing choices in transitions, such as fragmenting sentences ('For instance a software development projects...'), which prevent the cohesion from being completely fluent. Paragraphing is used appropriately throughout, demonstrating a clear structure matching Band 7 descriptors.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate and generally appropriate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms such as 'responsibility efficiently', 'expertise', and 'constructive way'. However, there are several noticeable spelling errors ('thier', 'acheive', 'invovles', 'competion', 'priortised') and minor word-choice inaccuracies ('the cooperation' instead of 'cooperation'). While less common vocabulary is attempted with some awareness of style and collocation, the frequency of spelling mistakes and occasional awkward phrasing place this criterion firmly in Band 6.0, as they occasionally distract the reader without completely impeding communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including conditional and relative clauses ('When individuals compete with each other they may set higher goals...', '...where people are willing to share their ideas...'). There are frequent error-free sentences, but also a number of grammatical errors and punctuation slips, such as missing articles ('is to encourage', 'demands different area'), dangling fragment structures ('For instance a software development projects usually invovles...'), and a sentence fragment in the fourth paragraph ('While healthy competition can be used when it encourages people to acheive high standards.'). These errors do not impede overall communication, reflecting the characteristics of Band 6.

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