Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-02

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 7.0)

Some people believe that competition in the workplace, at school and in everyday life is beneficial, whereas others argue that people should cooperate rather than compete with one another. I believe cooperation is more beneficial because it creates a supportive enviornment and enables people to solve problems more effectively.

On the one hand, competition can have several negative effect on individuals and society. When they constantly compete one another, they may experience stress and feel pressured to outperforms their colleagues or classmate. This can also discourage people from helping one another because they may see others as rivals rather than partners. For example, employees who compete for rewards may be less willing to share their ideas and assits their colleagues, as they may believe that doing so could reduce their own chance of success. Therefore, I do not agree that excessive competition is good because it can demage relationships and create an unhealthy environment.

On the other hand, coorperation can provide unlimited benefits because it allows people to work together towards shared objectives. Individuals have different ideas, skills and experiences, so working as a team enables them to combine their strengths and sole problem more efficiently. It can create a supportive enviornment where people can learn from and help one another. For instance, employees working on a complex project can combine their technical, creative and manageral skills to complete the task more successfully than they might have done individually. Therefore, I agree with this view because cooperation encourages teamwork, reduce unnessasary competition and allow them to achieve better result through shared efforts.

In conclusion, although competition can create stress, unhealthy rivalry and a lack of interaction, I believe that working together is more rewarding. This is because cooperation creates a supportive atmosphere, allow people to combine their skills, and help them to achieve common goals more effectively.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both views on competition and cooperation while maintaining a clear, well-supported position throughout. The student presents relevant ideas, such as how competition can increase stress while cooperation fosters effective problem-solving through shared objectives. However, some ideas tend to over-generalize or lack deeper extension, which keeps the response at this level. For instance, the discussion on employees competing for rewards and failing to share ideas is introduced well, but the argument could be pushed further with a more nuanced look at healthy competition. The position is clearly stated in the introduction and reinforced appropriately in the conclusion, fulfilling the main requirements for the task effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.5

There is a clear logical organisation and progression throughout the essay. The response follows a traditional four-paragraph structure with a distinct introduction, two body paragraphs exploring each viewpoint, and a summarizing conclusion. Cohesive devices are used flexibly, such as transitional markers like 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusion', which help guide the reader through the contrasting arguments. Referencing is generally clear, though paragraphing and transitions occasionally feel slightly formulaic. To reach the highest bands, the integration of cohesive devices could be even more seamless and unobtrusive, but overall, the logical flow of ideas is well maintained from beginning to end.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, demonstrating a sufficient range to discuss the topic with some flexibility and precision. The writer successfully attempts less common items and collocations, such as 'shared objectives', 'supportive environment', and 'complex project'. However, there are several spelling errors, including 'enviornment', 'outperforms', 'assits', 'demage', 'coorperation', 'sole problem', 'manageral', 'reduce', 'unnessasary', and 'result'. These errors do not seriously impede communication, but they reflect the ceiling for this level. Word choices are generally appropriate, though occasional lapses in spelling and word form prevent the response from achieving a higher band descriptor for lexical control.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and conditional-style reasoning effectively. There is good control over sentence structures, and punctuation is handled adequately. However, a number of grammatical errors persist, such as subject-verb agreement issues (e.g., 'cooperation... allow them'), pluralisation slips (e.g., 'other effect', 'chance of success' where plural might fit better), and minor prepositional or structural inaccuracies like 'compete one another' instead of 'compete with one another'. While these errors do not impede communication, their frequency means the sentence structures are not yet consistently error-free enough to secure a higher band score.

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