Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-29

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)

A part of people live in the society believe that competitive environment is good option at work, schools and in day to day life others has opinion that there should be cooperate environment is good options rather than competing against each other. both views is discusses in forthcoming paragraphs and I assert with latter view.

On the one hand, competitive environment has wider scope. In simple words if a person knows the skills to survive in a competitive environment then it will open many doors of wider scope for their carrier growth. For example , they are more competitive as compared to those who are not prepare them self for competition at earlier stages of their life. Therefore they have more potential to deal with situation more quickly.

On the other hand, cooperate with each other make them good team worker. To elaborate if individuals work together it build there relationship strong with each other and they learn different things from other about which they not aware about. For example, if a student studies in group they discuss various data ,sources or knowledgeable information with each other which help them to enhance their level of knowledge regarding particular topic. hence cooperation lead them to become good team member.

I assert that, cooperative environment is much more better option because in this you get chance to get in touch with number of people from various profession you get chance to wider the scope of your knowledge.

In conclusion, competitive environment is good for your better carrier growth but cooperation build team quality in a person.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion5.0
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both the benefits of competition and cooperation, and the writer clearly states a personal position in the introduction and conclusion. However, the development of ideas remains somewhat limited and repetitive. For instance, the paragraph on competition mentions that it opens doors for 'carrier growth' (career), but the explanation remains basic without strong specific examples. Similarly, the cooperative argument mentions group study and sharing information, but these points are under-developed. The overall response covers the requirements of the task adequately, placing it firmly at Band 5.5 to 6.0. Because the ideas are relevant but lack depth and precise extension, a score of 6.0 is appropriate as all parts of the prompt are addressed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The essay displays a generally coherent overall arrangement with a clear paragraph structure, including an introduction, two body paragraphs discussing each view, a personal opinion paragraph, and a conclusion. However, cohesion is frequently faulty and mechanical. The student relies on basic transitional phrases such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusion', but struggles with accurate referencing and sentence linking. For instance, sentences often run together without proper punctuation or connectors, such as '...in day to day life others has opinion...'. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate ideas, but logical progression between sentences is sometimes disrupted by awkward phrasing. These issues prevent the essay from achieving a higher score, making Band 5.0 a fair and accurate reflection of the student's current cohesion skills.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting words and phrases like 'competitive environment', 'cooperate environment', 'survive', and 'enhance their level of knowledge'. However, there are frequent errors in word choice, spelling, and collocation that detract from the writing. For example, 'A part of people live in the society' contains awkward phrasing, 'carrier' is used instead of 'career', and 'cooperate environment' should be 'cooperative environment'. Additionally, words are occasionally used with incorrect parts of speech, such as 'cooperate with each other make them good team worker'. Despite these noticeable errors, the vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey the basic meaning of the ideas, which corresponds to Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting relative clauses and conditional structures. However, grammatical accuracy is weak throughout the text. There are frequent errors in verb tense, subject-verb agreement, and articles. Examples include 'both views is discusses', 'others has opinion', 'those who are not prepare them self', and 'which they not aware about'. Punctuation is also problematic, featuring missing periods, unnecessary comma splices (e.g., 'For example , they are more competitive'), and capitalization oversights. While the complex structures show an attempt at range, the high frequency of basic errors causes noticeable difficulty for the reader and restricts the score to Band 5.0.

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

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