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 growing number of people think competition at offices, at schools and in normal life is a positive thing, while others think that we should work together and help each other.This essay will talk about both ideas and will say that there should be competition.
On the one hand, competition motivates indiviuals to work harder and achieve their goals and it encourages them to be mature with their work. Similarly, employes may work efficiently to get reward or promotion. For instance, At schools students work hard to get higher marks than their classmates. Therefore, competing against each other may help to develop their skills and achieve their results.
On the other hand, Coopertion may help them to achieve common goals. It also help indiviuals to share their experience and work together. Moreover, Coopertion may assist to build strong relationships and solve problems easily. For example, Students can cooperate on a school project and all of them user their knowledge, abilities to complete that project successfully. However, excessive coopertion sometimes reduce confidence of others and not feel to perform better. Hence, coopertion cna help people to acheive main goals and help to learn skills together.
In conclusion, Competition in workplace and in educational institues may encourage them to work hard and get higher marks and develop new skills. Coopertion may help to work togehter and share their experience of their life. Furthermore, it help them to acheive their main goal. I believe competition is benefical for all people to compete against each and acheive their results.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views on competition and cooperation and stating a clear personal opinion in the introduction and conclusion. Ideas are relevant, such as mentioning how competition motivates individuals and how cooperation helps achieve common goals, supported by examples like students working on school projects. However, some ideas are slightly under-developed or repetitive, such as the muddled sentence regarding excessive cooperation reducing confidence. Overall, the response fulfills the requirements for a Band 6.0 as it covers all parts of the prompt with relevant main ideas, though further elaboration on the opposing viewpoints would elevate the task response.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing, dividing the introduction, body paragraphs for each view, and conclusion appropriately. Cohesive devices are used to signal transitions, such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusion'. However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical, as seen in repetitive sentence structures and occasional confusing shifts in pronouns (e.g., 'reduce confidence of others and not feel to perform better'). Paragraph progression is generally clear, but logical transitions between sentences can feel abrupt, placing this essay securely at a Band 6.0 level.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms like 'efficiently', 'promotion', and 'relationships'. However, there are several noticeable spelling errors ('indiviuals' instead of individuals, 'employes' instead of employees, 'Coopertion' instead of cooperation, 'institues' instead of institutes, 'benefical' instead of beneficial, 'acheive' instead of achieve) and some awkward word choices. These lexical errors and misspellings do not impede overall communication, but they restrict the lexical score to a Band 6.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating clauses with 'to', 'because', and 'while'. There are, however, several grammatical errors throughout the text, such as missing articles, punctuation flaws (e.g., 'each other.This essay'), and awkward phrasing like 'and not feel to perform better'. While these errors occasionally cause the reader to pause, they do not severely impede communication. The control over simple structures is evident, but persistent inaccuracies in complex structures place the grammatical range and accuracy at a Band 5.5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.