Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-30

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)

People have different views whether competition in daily life is necessary or not. While some people believe that competition at work, at school and in daily life is a good thing, others argue that we should try to cooperate, rather than competing each other. This essay will discuss both views before explaining why I believe that competing each other is not necessary.

On one hand, some people believe that competition is necessay. One reason for this is that competition encourages individual's to do better. When individual observes his classfellow, colleague doing better than him, it motivates him to hussle and work hard than being lazy. For instance, a employee will be more motivated to do better when he will see his colleague getting upraisals and promotions. As a result, competition motivates to give best efforts and do better.

On the other hand, others argue that cooperating is better than competing.

One major reason is that everyone have their own strengths and weaknesses, competition makes all the people run in one same race irrespective of their capabilites and inabilities. For instance, a student who has never liked arts will be forces to compete in arts. As, a result competition results unfair outcomes as it doesn't consider your choices.

In my view, competion is not necessary because it can create self doubt inside an individual and cause heavy stress that he is not enough or not good. One of the major cause of students suicidal rate is self-doubt.

In conclusion, both views have their advantages and disadvantages. However, I believe that competition is not necessary and every individual should find their own pathway by exploring themselves, rather than competing and doubting oneself into something they don't even like.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views on competition and cooperation and providing a clear personal opinion. The writer presents relevant arguments for both sides, such as motivation and fairness, and supports them with examples. However, some ideas are slightly under-developed and tend to over-generalize, such as linking competition directly to severe outcomes like suicide without deep elaboration. The position is maintained clearly throughout the essay, meeting the requirements for a Band 6.0 performance.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay has a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs addressing distinct views, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate ideas. However, cohesion is at times mechanical and repetitive, using basic transition markers such as 'On one hand,' 'On the other hand,' and 'In conclusion.' Referencing is occasionally slightly unclear, for instance using pronouns like 'he' where the antecedent reference could be tighter. Logical progression is present, supporting a Band 6.0 score.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'capabilites,' 'inabilities,' and 'upraisals.' However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors, such as 'necessay' instead of necessary, 'hussle' instead of hustle, 'classfellow' instead of classmate, and 'forces' instead of forced. Phrasing like 'competing each other' instead of competing with each other also occurs. While these errors are noticeable, they do not impede communication, fitting the Band 6.0 descriptor well.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some capability with subordinate clauses ('When individual observes his classfellow...'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with article usage ('a employee', 'in arts'), subject-verb agreement ('everyone have', 'individual's to do'), and prepositional choices ('competing each other'). Despite these errors, the meaning remains mostly clear and communication is rarely impeded, which aligns closely with the criteria for Band 5.5.

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

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