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)

Competetion plays a crucial role in improving and gaining new skills faster as no one wants to be left behind whether it would be your workplace or school. Some believe competetion is a good thing while some argue we should try to cooprate with people around us rather than competing against each other.I believe competetion helps in developing skills and character faster but competetion also brings some unwanted problems.

Competetion plays significant role in shaping the child career as the child lerns to adapt new skills and cope up with other classmates. Competetion makes individuals feel they are lacking behind and need to cope up with the fast pasing world to be relevent with others. Similarly, at workplaces people have to compete with other to be promoted to senior positinons which eventually increases the productivity of the employees and also helps emplyees to works at their full potential leading to increase their productivity.

Competetion also plays crucial role in innovation, for instance big tech companies like Apple and Samsung compete against each other from decades to be the leader in smartphone market which eventually leads to innovate new technologies to deliver flagship experience to its consumers. But in contradiction, competetions also ends our self-esteem about our capablities. Competetion ends creativity by forcing individuals to be with the mainstream and do the jobs that are widely done in the society. A competetion less life give individuals freedom to follow their passion and be good in their perticular field of work.

In conclution, I firmly believe competetions plays a crucial role in shaping our life by making us gain relevents skills and also helps in most out of our potential so we are not left behind in this fast pasing world. But on other hand, competetion limits us to do mainstream activities and disables us from following our passion.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views on competition and cooperation and clearly presenting the writer's opinion. The position is maintained throughout the essay. Ideas are generally well-extended, such as the example of Apple and Samsung in the technology sector, and the points about workplace productivity. However, some arguments tend to over-generalise or repeat slightly, such as the discussion of how competition pushes individuals to keep up with the fast-paced world. Overall, the task is successfully covered, placing it firmly in the Band 6.5 to 7 range. Because the response meets all core prompt requirements with relevant support, a band score of 6.5 is well-earned.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a logical overall organisation with a clear introduction, body paragraphs addressing different aspects of competition, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas, such as the benefits of competition versus its drawbacks. Cohesive devices are employed, including transition markers like 'for instance' and 'in contradiction', though referencing can occasionally feel a bit mechanical. For example, the flow between sentences in the second paragraph could be smoother. There are some minor cohesion lapses, but the message progresses logically from start to finish, supporting a clear band 6.0 performance.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'flagship experience', 'self-esteem', and 'innovation'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, including 'Competetion' (consistently misspelled), 'lerns', 'pasing', 'relevent', 'positinons', 'emplyees', and 'conclution'. While these errors do not severely impede communication and the meaning remains clear, the frequency of spelling mistakes prevents the response from reaching higher lexical bands. Therefore, a band score of 6.0 is appropriate.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over multi-clause structures (e.g., 'Competetion plays a crucial role in improving and gaining new skills faster as no one wants to be left behind...'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors and awkward phrasings, such as 'cope up with' instead of 'cope with', 'lacking behind' instead of 'lagging behind', 'compete with other', and missing articles. Punctuation is also occasionally faulty, including missing spaces after commas and periods. These errors reflect a typical Band 5.5 to 6.0 profile, where complex structures are attempted but contain persistent mistakes.

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

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