Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

There are a few individuals who have a view that competing with people at offices, educational institutes and in everyday life is a positive thing. Some other thought that helping people is good ,inspite of comparing them with themselves. Everyone has its own perspective, but I think that corparating with others should be encouraged.

In the first view ,we were talking about competion with people at different levels in their life. Those people who support this view may believe that if you compare yourself with other people, you will work very hard in order to achieve the comfort, knowledge and money that those people wre having. These people work round the clock and achieve their goals and ambition at some point in their life.

In the second view there is a completely different view as these people believe that helping others is a good thing and will be encouraged more as it will enable people to know about each other difficulties which they were facing in their lives and people will found solution of it by interacting with other people.

According to my perspective, interacting with people and keeping a positive attitude towards them is a good thing beacuse, if you do so then you will make more friends and you will get to know about the people living around you and if they want any assistance in their life you can help them. And as a result a very supportive and comfortable environment is created rather, than that if you love in a society in which people were always trying to compete with each other. As, I did helped a guy in our society who was facing problem in using navigation and I told him how to use it and I fell very happy that I helped someone in the real life.

In conclusion, I would say that people should do what they like to do. But if you help other people with the knowledge you have you will ultimately get fruit for this effort.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both views on competition and cooperation and attempts to give a personal opinion, which places the writing at this level. However, the task is addressed only partially because the ideas are limited and under-developed. For instance, the discussion of the first view simply mentions working hard for money and comfort, such as 'work round the clock and achieve their goals', without deeper exploration. Similarly, the second view and the personal opinion rely heavily on vague assertions and a single personal anecdote about helping someone with navigation, rather than fully extending and supporting the arguments with well-reasoned points. To move to a higher band, the writer needs to present fully developed ideas with relevant explanations and examples that thoroughly explore both sides of the issue.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response shows some overall organization, dividing the essay into an introduction, body paragraphs for each view, a personal opinion, and a conclusion, which creates a coherent overall arrangement. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. For example, transitional phrases like 'In the first view' and 'In the second view' are repetitive and formulaic. Furthermore, referencing is not always clear, as seen in pronouns like 'those people wre having' or 'if you do so', which make the logical progression occasionally difficult to follow. Paragraphing is used, but the internal logical flow within paragraphs needs strengthening. To achieve a higher band, the writer should use a wider variety of cohesive devices more naturally and ensure that each paragraph builds a clear, progressive argument without relying on mechanical signposting.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited and minimally adequate for the task. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary, such as 'educational institutes', 'perspective', and 'assistance', but these attempts are frequently accompanied by noticeable errors in word choice, collocation, and word form, including spelling mistakes like 'corparating' instead of 'cooperating', 'inspite', 'competion', 'beacuse', and 'fell' instead of 'felt'. Additionally, awkward phrasing such as 'get fruit for this effort' causes some difficulty for the reader. To improve lexical resource, the student needs to expand their vocabulary range, pay closer attention to word formation and spelling, and ensure that less common lexical items are used with proper collocation and precision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer uses a limited range of sentence structures, relying mostly on simple sentences alongside a few attempts at complex structures that are often faulty. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including tense inconsistencies, such as switching between present and past ('we were talking', 'people were always trying', 'I did helped'), subject-verb agreement issues like 'Everyone has its own perspective', and missing articles or incorrect prepositions. For example, writing 'if you love in a society' instead of 'live', and 'solution of it' instead of 'solution to it'. These frequent errors can cause some difficulty for the reader. To reach a higher band, the writer must demonstrate better control over complex sentence forms and significantly reduce the frequency of basic grammatical errors.

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

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