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)
Competition and cooperation both are important aspects of modern life. Some people believe that competition at work, at school, and in daily life is a good thing while other argue that cooperation is important in life. In my opinion, competition is crucial to achieve goal in life while, cooperation is important for long term success.
On the one hand, competition is crucial in life to achieve life goals. Competition helps individuals to achieve goals and motivate person. For example, Competition with classmates help students to achieve their goals and motivate students to get good grades and get position. Competition with other employee help person to develop new skills and learn new thing which make him special and help him to achieve good reputation in company.
Secondly, Cooperation is important in life because it is necessary in life and with cooperation we can achieve different work. For instance, In hospitals cooperation is crucial between doctor, nurse, and other staff. In hospitals a single person cannot do anything. Cooperation help to perform difficult and complex task easily because in cooperation multiple people perform same task and share their knowledge and experience which make work more easy.
In my opinion, Competition and cooperation both are important because for achieving goal competition is crucial it remains motivate person to achieve goal while, cooperation help to perform that task which is very complex and difficult because in cooperation multiple persons involve and share their knowledge and experience.
To sum up, competition help to achieve goals in life and remain person motivate while, cooperation help to achieve that task which is very complex and crucial and not easy to perform.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0
The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both competition and cooperation while presenting a clear personal position in the introduction and conclusion. However, some ideas are under-developed or repetitive. For instance, the body paragraphs rely heavily on repeating the notion that competition 'motivates person' and cooperation 'helps to perform difficult and complex task easily' without providing fully elaborated, distinct supporting arguments. To move to a higher level, the writer needs to extend ideas with deeper analysis and more sophisticated, specific examples rather than reiterating the same basic points across multiple sections.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0
The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a recognizable logical progression. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate the introduction, the two body viewpoints, the personal opinion, and the conclusion. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical and repetitive, particularly with transitional phrases like 'On the one hand', 'Secondly', and 'In my opinion' appearing multiple times. Additionally, referencing and logical flow could be smoother; sentences within the body paragraphs occasionally feel disjointed. To achieve a higher band, the writer must employ a wider, more flexible range of cohesive devices and ensure that referencing between sentences is clearer and less formulaic.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, providing a minimally sufficient range to communicate basic ideas about competition and cooperation. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary, such as 'crucial', 'reputation', and 'complex', but this is accompanied by noticeable errors in word choice, collocation, and word form, such as 'achieve goal' instead of 'achieve goals', 'remain motivate person' instead of 'keeps a person motivated', and 'multiple persons involve' instead of 'multiple people are involved'. These errors do not completely impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score. To improve, the student needs to expand their range of vocabulary and pay closer attention to collocations and accurate word forms.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The essay demonstrates a limited range of structures, relying mostly on simple sentences alongside a few basic attempts at complex forms, which are often faulty. There are frequent grammatical errors regarding subject-verb agreement, pluralisation, and articles, such as 'Competition with other employee help person', 'learn new thing', and 'In hospitals cooperation is crucial between doctor, nurse, and other staff'. Although the meaning is generally understandable despite these errors, the lack of a strong mix of error-free complex structures keeps the grammar score at this level. To progress, the writer should focus on mastering basic agreement rules and incorporating a wider variety of accurate complex sentence patterns.
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