Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)
Competition has become increasingly common in modern times. Many individuals compete with each other at work, at institution and in daily life. While, some individuals believe that competition has general benefits that helps people to develop skills and knowledge. Others argue that people should have to coopoerate with eachother. This essay will discuss both views before explaning why I believe competition provides several merits.
On the one hand, it is argued that competition play a significant role in everday life. Firstly, competition helps people to acheive their future goals. If individuals set their targets they tend to compete with their opponents it will really helpful for them. For example, a students who used to competing with their classmate may practice regularly,which helps them to achieve higher grades. As a result, Competiton assits people to increase their productivity and develop interpersonal skills.
On the other hand, proponents argue that we should try to cooperate rather than competing against each other. There are some negative effects of competition, many individuals tend to compete with each other,which can negatively affect on their mental health. For instance, employee who used to compete with his collague may feel isloated and stressout due to increased work-load. Another drawback is that competiton can lead to weaken relationship among individuals. Friendly atmosphere helps people to work freely and cooperate with eachother.
In conclusion, Although cooperation helps people to work together and create positive environment, competiton helps people to achieve their goals and increase their work efficieny.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0
The response addresses the main parts of the task by discussing both competition and cooperation, and the writer clearly states their own opinion in the introduction and conclusion. However, the development of ideas is limited and somewhat repetitive, which keeps the response at this level. Furthermore, the length requirement is not met, as the essay contains 248 words, falling just short of the 250-word minimum. While the ideas regarding productivity and mental health are relevant, they lack sufficient extension and deep explanation. To reach a higher level, the writer needs to expand on their supporting examples more thoroughly and ensure the word count requirement is fully satisfied.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The essay displays some overall organization with standard transitional markers such as 'On the one hand' and 'In conclusion', but the progression of ideas is occasionally disrupted by mechanical or repetitive cohesive devices. Paragraphing is attempted, though the conclusion is notably brief and lacks a fully developed summarizing sentence. Referencing is sometimes unclear, such as the transition between sentences in the second body paragraph where logical links feel abrupt. To improve cohesion, the writer should aim for smoother transitions between sentences and ensure that each paragraph builds a more cohesive, progressive argument without relying on formulaic transitions.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for the task, but contains noticeable errors in spelling, word form, and word choice that occasionally cause difficulty for the reader. Examples of lexical slips include spelling errors like 'coopoerate', 'explaning', 'everday', 'acheive', 'Competiton', 'assits', 'collague', 'isloated', 'stressout', and 'efficieny', alongside word choice issues such as 'at institution' instead of 'at institutions' or 'at school'. The range of vocabulary is rather limited and basic, relying heavily on repeating root words like 'compete' and 'competition'. To achieve a higher band, the writer must expand their lexical repertoire, utilize correct word forms and spellings consistently, and incorporate less common vocabulary with greater accuracy.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The essay relies on a limited range of sentence structures, and attempts at complex sentences are frequently faulty. There are noticeable errors in grammar, punctuation, and article usage throughout the text, such as comma splices, incorrect prepositions, and subject-verb agreement issues (e.g., 'a students who used to competing', 'employee who used to compete', 'competiton can lead to weaken relationship'). While these errors do not completely obscure the overall meaning, they are frequent enough to cause distraction and difficulty for the reader. To improve in this area, the writer needs to demonstrate better control over complex sentence patterns and pay closer attention to basic grammatical accuracy, particularly verb forms and singular/plural consistency.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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