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 are two terms that contradict each other and also work side by side. Some people believe that competition at work, at school and in daily life is beneficial. While others argue that we should focus more on cooperating with each other, rather than competing. I have a firm believe that cooperating with your coworkers, schoolmates, and people in daily life is far more better than always competing against each other.

Primarily, cooperating with people in your daily life brings alot of benefits including good relationship with people, whether its your fellow at school or a coworker. This way, people can develop a social circle, which is both powerfull and beneficial. For instance, if you help your coworker when they are in need, instead of taking advantage of the situation and competing against them, they might also help you when you are in need. As a result, coworkers can trust each other and work together, which can also assist in the company's prosperity.

However, competing against each other is quite exhausting. Additionaly, it can also cause distrust among people. If people are always competing against each other, then whenever they want to trust someone, they might hesitate because of the fear of competition, or that they might end up providing their weakness to their rival. For example, a student might not trust his own classmates, in case they might compete against him and leave him behind. In this case, it might be a huge disadvantage to the factor of bulding good relationships with the classmates.

In conclusion, i believe that we should focus more on cooperation. As the advantages of cooperating always overweigh the advantages of competing against people.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views on competition and cooperation and providing a clear personal opinion. However, some ideas are underdeveloped and lack sufficient depth. For instance, the paragraph discussing the benefits of cooperation relies on a single general example about helping a coworker, which is not fully extended. Similarly, the points regarding the disadvantages of competition are somewhat limited. To reach a higher level, the ideas need to be more thoroughly elaborated with more robust supporting arguments and specific, detailed examples throughout the body paragraphs.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. There is a logical progression of ideas as the writer moves from discussing cooperation to examining the drawbacks of competition. However, cohesion can feel somewhat mechanical at times, relying on predictable transition words like "Primarily," "However," and "In conclusion." Additionally, referencing is occasionally imprecise, such as the pronoun use in sentences like "in case they might compete against him." Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct points, but smoothing out the transitional links between sentences would enhance the overall flow and progression of the response.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as "prosperity," "exhausting," and "disadvantage." However, there are noticeable vocabulary and spelling errors, such as the misuse of "firm believe" instead of belief, and spelling mistakes like "powerfull," "alot," and "overweigh" instead of outweigh. Word choice is occasionally imprecise, for instance using "factor of bulding good relationships." These inaccuracies do not heavily impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score because they show limited precision and control when attempting more sophisticated language.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some capability with subordinate clauses as seen in "if you help your coworker when they are in need." However, there are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation, particularly involving articles, prepositions, and sentence fragments. For instance, writing "While others argue that we should focus more on cooperating with each other" creates a sentence fragment starting with a dependent clause. Punctuation errors are also present, such as unnecessary commas and lowercase letters at the beginning of sentences, like "i believe." These errors require some effort from the reader to parse, placing the grammatical control securely within this range.

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