Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-05

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 6.0)

Individuals in recent times have been arguaing over whether competition should be seen as positive development among various circumstances of life or coorperation or group learning should be encourged instead.

In the contemprary society competition has been a major part in every aspects of life like in educational institutes or in socities Competition can have many positive impacts depending upon the sitaution. It pushes individual to keep doing their best and do not give up. A healthy competition is quite cruical for positive developments as it leads towards better performance, motivation and continous learning. For instance, competitions at school encourages students to not miss their homework and perform better which in return is great for them, or competition amongst adults at coperate work places which pushes them to outperform themselves and do better.

On the flip side, competition can also have some negative impacts on indiviuals like stress, depression or inferiority complex. Competition puts individuals on a continous race where people have to keep up even when they cannot or do not have the energy to do so at times which eventually turns into negative developments and create disturbance in individuals lifestyles or approaches. For instance, high grade competion at schools effects students critical learning as they just focus on grades rather then learning. In addition competions in societies is also proven to be more negative as individuals do certain things just because they feel they are in a continous competion and it puts them into depression as they do things that do not align with their personalities.

I firmly believe that a healthy competition at a base level is great and should be encouraged meanwhile i strongly oppose the radical form of competition as it has been proven be negative.

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 in the conclusion. However, some ideas remain under-developed. While the student outlines benefits such as better performance and motivation, and drawbacks like stress and focusing solely on grades, these points are not fully extended with deep explanation or more robust illustration. For instance, the mention of 'high grade competion at schools effects students critical learning' touches upon a strong point, but it lacks elaboration. To reach a higher level, the writer needs to provide more fully developed explanations and extend their arguments rather than moving quickly from one point to the next.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a recognisable introduction, body paragraphs addressing each viewpoint, and a clear concluding stance. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate distinct ideas, such as the advantages of competition in the second paragraph and the disadvantages in the third. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical and referencing is not always completely clear. Transitional markers and cohesive devices like 'On the flip side' and 'In addition' are used, but the overall progression between sentences could be smoother. To achieve a higher standard, the writer should employ a wider and more flexible range of cohesive devices without relying on repetitive formulas, ensuring that each sentence flows seamlessly into the next.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for the task, providing enough range to discuss competition and cooperation. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary, such as 'contemporary society', 'inferiority complex', and 'radical form', but these attempts are accompanied by notable spelling and word-choice errors, including 'arguaing', 'coorperation', 'encourged', 'contemprary', 'sitaution', 'cruical', 'coperate', 'continous', 'competion', and 'effects' instead of 'affects'. These errors do not entirely impede communication, but they highlight the limitations in lexical control. For a higher score, the student needs to demonstrate greater precision in word choice and collocation, alongside a significant improvement in spelling accuracy across both common and less common terms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some capability to construct multi-clause sentences such as 'It pushes individual to keep doing their best and do not give up.' However, there are frequent errors in grammar, articles, plurals, and verb forms that cause some difficulty for the reader. Examples include missing plural markers ('every aspects'), subject-verb agreement issues ('competitions at school encourages'), and awkward phrasing like 'do not give up' mixed with infinitives. Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with missing commas in complex structures. To move up, the writer must produce a higher proportion of error-free sentences and demonstrate better control over complex grammatical patterns, subject-verb agreement, and articles.

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