Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-01

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 6.0)

Although some people are of the view that competing at work, at school, and in daily life is beneficial because it strives one to do better. I agree with the view that we all should try to cooperate with each other rather than being in a competition.

On the one hand, some people that believe that everyone should be competing with eachother where ever they are, such as work, school, or even daily life. This is because competition strives people to improve and perform better. Competition encourages people to work harder and improve themselves. For example, some companies track the performance of their employees throughout the month. Then at the month end, the company awards the best performing employee with certain benefits. This encourages all employees to work hard and aim at becoming the best employee of the month.

On the other hand, some people think that rather than competing against each other we should try to cooperate more. This is because such an attitude helps create a safe environment of everyone to learn and grow. People should help out each other in need rather than making everything a competition. Cooperating with eachother and lending a helping hand in need helps improve everyone's productivity and performance. For example, in successful startups everyone including the CEOs and CTOs are also seen helping others out. This builds trust and companionship.

In conclusion, eventhough some people believe that competing at work, school and daily life is fruitful as it pushes people to become better. I believe that cooperating with eachother can prove to be more beneficial as it creates a safe environment for everyone to grow side by side.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both the views that competition is beneficial and that cooperation is preferable, while also stating a clear personal opinion in the introduction and conclusion. However, the development of ideas is somewhat uneven. For instance, the paragraph supporting competition uses a relevant example about companies tracking employee performance, but the reasoning tends to rely on repetitive statements such as 'competition encourages people to work harder and improve themselves.' To move to a higher level, the ideas need to be more fully extended and supported with deeper analysis rather than restating similar points.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear structure that follows a standard four-paragraph format, including an introduction, two body paragraphs addressing opposing views, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas. However, cohesion within and between sentences can be mechanical at times, relying on basic transitions like 'On the one hand,' 'On the other hand,' and 'In conclusion.' Additionally, referencing and logical flow occasionally feel repetitive, preventing the response from achieving a truly smooth progression of ideas throughout the text.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The writer uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully communicating everyday concepts and attempting some less common vocabulary such as 'companionship,' 'productivity,' and 'fruitful.' Nevertheless, there are notable word-choice errors, incorrect collocations, and spelling mistakes, such as writing 'strives one to do better' instead of 'spurs one on' or 'drives,' 'eachother' as a single word, and 'strives people' instead of 'drives people.' These inaccuracies reflect an adequate yet limited control of lexical features that prevent the writing from achieving higher precision and fluency.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and introductory dependent clauses such as 'Although some people are of the view that...' However, there are notable grammatical errors and sentence boundary issues. For example, the first sentence is a sentence fragment ('Although... better. I agree...'), and there are prepositional and structural slips such as 'safe environment of everyone' instead of 'safe environment for everyone' and 'helps create a safe environment' lacking certain articles or prepositional links. While these errors do not impede overall communication, they occur frequently enough to typify a mixed level of grammatical control.

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