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)

It is often argued that some people think that competition at work and school also in daily life is very beneficial thing while, other people believe that we should help each other instead of competing against each other. In my opinion, both are equally crucial because competing makes us more energetic also cooperating each other is also essential that will also assist people to become positive attitudes in different sectors.

On the one hand, Comptetion makes us more active when we set the target to achive our goals in daily life. Competition motivates individuals to set their target what they want in their life.For instance, if students want to achieve higher score in their class they target with the intelligent student in their class , these helps the students to become better and motivates them to get higher score. These things helps alot the students to become better in academic field. In addition, if any employee working in company they want the higher positions and get financial prices by copeting with the other person that is doing greater work in company, in any field when you want to achieve anythings that wants efforts and motivation so competitors gives you that energy that aid you in life.

On the other hand, coopering with people mkaes you better person owing to when yoyu help other people they will respect you give you the appreciation. If students want to learn something they did not understand you should need to help them that they can also pass their exam , competing in studies in not a good things that motivates the learner and they feel anxious about their career so helping each other is a greatest thing. Also, workers should assist each other by helping in presentations, tasks and in meetings .As a rsult, by helping each other we also takes benefits in different ways like when you need help they will also help you and appreciate you.

In my opinion, both views are crucial due to people become more motivated by competing each other also individuals should also assist eac other in diificulties and help them when they need.

Taking everythig into account, competition playing a significent role in individuals life because by this they motivates alot and do more hardwork also in difficult time when they need help in their work or in daily life is also important so balacing both is a geatest thing.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the views that competition is beneficial and that cooperation is preferable, while also providing the writer's own opinion. The position is clear throughout the essay, being stated in the introduction and reiterated in the conclusion. However, some ideas are more fully developed than others. For instance, the body paragraphs present relevant arguments, such as competition motivating individuals to achieve goals and cooperation fostering respect and support, but these ideas tend to be somewhat repetitive rather than fully extended with deep elaboration or varied examples. The examples provided, such as students targeting intelligent classmates or employees competing for financial prizes, are somewhat limited and repetitive in their explanation, placing the response firmly at this level where relevant ideas are present but under-developed in places.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay displays an overall coherent arrangement with a clear attempt at a logical structure, utilizing a standard four-paragraph format plus a brief concluding remark. Information and ideas are generally presented with a recognizable progression, moving from the introduction to distinct body paragraphs discussing competition and cooperation, and finally to the conclusion. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. The writer relies heavily on basic cohesive devices and transitional markers such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'In addition', which can feel repetitive or formulaic. Furthermore, referencing is not always clear; for example, pronouns such as 'these' and 'that' are occasionally vague in their antecedent reference, as seen in phrases like 'these helps the students' and 'these things helps alot', which disrupts the smooth flow of ideas between sentences.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The writer uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully communicating everyday concepts related to work, school, and daily life. There are clear attempts to use less common vocabulary and phrases, such as 'beneficial thing', 'financial prices', and 'positive attitudes', but these attempts are frequently accompanied by inaccuracies in word choice, collocation, and word form. For example, 'financial prices' should be 'financial rewards' or 'bonuses', 'coopering' is used instead of 'cooperating', and 'significent' contains a spelling error. While these noticeable errors and occasional word choice infelicities do not severely impede communication, they restrict the vocabulary score, as the range remains limited and recurrently imprecise.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, though the range of structures remains somewhat limited. The writer attempts complex sentences using dependent clauses and conjunctions (e.g., 'if students want to achieve higher score...', 'when you help other people they will respect you'), but these constructions frequently contain errors. There are numerous grammatical inaccuracies involving subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'competition playing', 'people become', 'competitors gives'), article omission (e.g., 'higher score', 'company'), and prepositions within grammatical patterns. Punctuation errors, such as missing commas and incorrect spacing before punctuation marks, are also present. Nevertheless, while these errors in grammar and punctuation occur throughout the text, they rarely impede overall communication.

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.