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)

It is often argued that competition at jobs, academic institutes and on routine basis is a good thing, while some individuals believe that we should collaborate more, instead of cntesting against each other. An ongoing debate has emerged regarding whether we should compete or cooperate which each other. This essay will examine both perspectives before presenting my own view that we should help each other in studies and work.

On the one hand, the formal point is supported by the people who consider themselves of having superior quality. The main reason is that everyone want to become the high achievers at jobs and schools, it is the ability of students/employees to get involve into the contest arranged by teachers or their managers that will promote their post or class. Furthermore, competing each other can develop essential skills and creativity needs to foster ideas and maintain extensive knowledge of their work or education. For instance, a typical example is that everyone wants to move forward and achieve sucess, leaving behind the incompetent learner/ workers.

On the other hand, latter point describes that competition can leads too fight between the workers/students causing disastrous impact on social life, so instead we should collaborate and help each other in problem solving and assignments. They assert that cooperation will have a substantial impact on the environment of school/work which will build the positive relationship and strong bonding between them. In addition, collaboration and teamwork will help the student/employees to succeed together with combine efforts and improve their social interaction and communication skills. For instance, when i was a student with excellency in mathematics, i used to collaborate with other students who can't understand the question which has also develop my communication skills.

In conclusion, while both views have their own merits, i personally believe that teamwork and cooperation can lead to more positive benefits rather than competing eachother, i stand strong with this due to the fact that competition causes conflicting ideas about eachother whereas, collaboration support them in a postive way.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The student addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both the benefits of competition and the advantages of cooperation, and clearly states a personal opinion in the introduction and conclusion. The position is maintained throughout the response. However, some ideas are somewhat repetitive and under-developed, particularly in the body paragraphs where examples like 'when i was a student with excellency in mathematics' are a bit simplistic and rely heavily on personal anecdote rather than fully extended reasoning. Nevertheless, the main arguments are clear and the task is adequately fulfilled, aligning well with the Band 6 descriptor for addressing all parts of the task with relevant ideas.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a logical overall arrangement with clear progression from introduction to body paragraphs and conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the two competing views. Cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusion' are correctly employed to signpost the structure. However, there are instances of faulty referencing and mechanical cohesion, such as 'the formal point' instead of 'the former point', and repetitive transition patterns. Referencing pronouns occasionally lack absolute clarity. Overall, the organizational structure is coherent, fitting a Band 6 profile.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, attempting less common lexical items such as 'disastrous impact', 'substantial impact', and 'collaboration'. However, there are numerous lexical and collocation errors, including 'cntesting' (contesting), 'competing each other' (competing with each other), 'needs' instead of 'needed', 'sucess' (success), 'leads too fight' (leads to a fight), and 'with combine efforts' (with combined efforts). These errors do not seriously impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score to a Band 5.5 or a solid 6.0 based on the presence of frequent word-choice and spelling inaccuracies.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt at complex structures with subordinate clauses (e.g., 'This essay will examine both perspectives before presenting my own view that...'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors in tense consistency, prepositions, articles, and word forms, such as 'everyone want' (wants), 'to get involve' (involved), 'creativity needs' (needed), 'who can't understand' (couldn't understand), and lower-case 'i' pronouns throughout. While these errors occur regularly, they rarely impede overall communication, placing the writing comfortably at Band 6.

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