Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-04

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)

One school of thought believes that competition at work, school and daily life is a good while the other school of thought believes that one should try to cooperate more rather than competing against each other. I support the latter.

Competition is something we inherit at a very young age unconsciously. We constantly see our parents compare two children. For example, if the elder child comes 1st in the class the younger child is often expected to do the same. This continues at work and even in one's personal life. While for a few individuals competition does wonders by encouraging them, for most it is exhausting and puts them in a state where they become under-confident. I have personally encountered people who become envious and practice unethical means to reach the end goal because they want to be better than somebody else.

At work, while healthy competition is often encouraged, one fails to understand the line between competition and toxicity. For instance, people in different departments at work compete with each other rather than cooperating which leads to a business not achieving its overall objective. This could be detrimental if not corrected at the earliest. A solution to solve this problem could be to make people participate in team building sessions. This can allow them to communicate and form bonds.

In schools, teachers can eliminate the concept of grades by looking at students holistically instead of just evaluating them based on scores. Instilling these habits younger can help them turn into community driven individuals instead of being self centred.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

First, please note that the response contains 248 words and fails to meet the minimum length requirement of 250 words, with 11 words copied directly from the prompt not being counted. Regarding content, the essay addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both competition and cooperation while giving a clear personal opinion. However, the ideas remain somewhat limited and under-developed. For instance, the paragraph on work touches upon toxicity and team-building sessions, but these points are not fully explored with detailed explanations or comprehensive examples. To reach a higher band, the writer needs to extend and support all arguments more thoroughly and ensure the word count requirement is fully satisfied.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The essay presents some overall organization, beginning with an introduction that outlines the two views and the writer's stance, followed by body paragraphs discussing different contexts like work and school. However, there is a lack of clear overall progression between the ideas, making the logical flow somewhat disjointed. Cohesive devices are used, but they can be repetitive or mechanical, such as the repetitive transitions 'At work' and 'In schools'. Additionally, referencing is occasionally unclear, and paragraphing could be managed more effectively to group related concepts together. To improve, the writer should ensure a smoother, more logical progression from one idea to the next and employ a wider, more flexible range of cohesive devices without over-relying on basic sentence-initial markers.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The writer demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully communicating everyday concepts related to education, employment, and interpersonal dynamics. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary items, such as 'detrimental', 'holistically', and 'self centred', although some minor word-choice and punctuation inaccuracies occur, including missing hyphens in compound adjectives like 'self centred'. Spelling is generally accurate throughout the text. While these lexical errors do not impede communication, the vocabulary remains somewhat limited and minimally adequate. To progress to a higher band, the writer should incorporate a wider and more sophisticated range of lexical items, paying closer attention to natural collocations and precise word choices in various academic contexts.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The essay features a limited range of sentence structures, relying heavily on basic patterns alongside some attempts at complex sentences. These attempts at complex structures are often slightly faulty or lack necessary punctuation, such as missing commas in introductory phrases or coordinate clauses (e.g., 'good while the other' or 'at work while healthy competition'). There are frequent errors in grammar, including missing articles and occasional prepositional inconsistencies, which can occasionally cause some difficulty or hesitation for the reader. To achieve a higher score, the writer must incorporate a greater variety of complex grammatical structures while significantly reducing the frequency of basic errors by carefully reviewing sentence boundaries and punctuation.

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

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