Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-06

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)

Many individuals believe that people should compete each other in their daily lives at school or work respectively. Other people think that cooperation can contribute the benefit better than the competition. Personally, I agree with the latter statement because it can enhance our human society.

There are many people who believe that people should compete each other is good because it can motivate a person to work hard. According to the human's nature, they do work more when they have a rival in their environment such as work or school. For example, the best employee of the years at one company can motivate the workers to get better work performances.

Although it can contribute in some places, competition can sometimes lead to the toxic work environment because they lack of the team work spirits. Thus, there are people who encourage for the cooperation skills which can foster the better environment for the human society. As there was lack of negotiation skills within many countries, governments were rivalling each other over the economy and it led to the World War 1 and 2 which thousands of civilians lives had being effected. Lately, there are many cooperations between the different countries such as Asean-European friendships which eliminates the blood sheded wars. As a result, people around the world can enjoy their human rights and concentrate more on the society development such as technology and health care systems. Therefore, I believe that people should develop teamwork spirits rather than the competition against each other.

In conclusion, there is the controversy between compete or cooperate each other these days. My opinion aligns with the second statement because people should put more effort on working each others to get a better society.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both views on competition and cooperation and clearly states a personal opinion in the introduction and conclusion. However, some ideas are more fully developed than others. The arguments surrounding competition, such as motivating workers as seen in phrases like 'the best employee of the years at one company can motivate the workers', are somewhat basic and lack deeper extension. Conversely, the historical example regarding world wars and international friendships provides a relevant, if broad, attempt at support. To move to a higher level, the ideas presented need more thorough elaboration and consistently deeper analysis rather than relying on generalised assertions.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion, satisfying the basic requirements for logical organisation. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different viewpoints and examples. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical, as seen in repetitive transitional phrases like 'There are many people who believe' and 'As a result'. Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the ambiguous pronoun use in 'because they lack of the team work spirits', where 'they' is slightly detached from its intended referent. To achieve a higher score, the writer should employ a wider and more flexible variety of cohesive devices without overusing mechanical connectors, ensuring smoother logical transitions between sentences.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to convey their ideas about competition and cooperation clearly. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, such as 'civilian lives' and 'blood sheded wars', but these contain word form and spelling inaccuracies like 'blood sheded' instead of 'bloodshed'. Other minor word choice and collocation issues appear, such as 'contribute the benefit' and 'compete each other'. These errors do not impede communication, allowing the reader to follow the argument without severe difficulty. To progress, the writer should focus on expanding their range of functional collocations and refining their word choices to ensure greater precision and natural stylistic flow.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures such as concessive clauses ('Although it can contribute in some places...') and relative clauses. There are some errors in grammar and punctuation throughout the text, including prepositional and structural patterns like 'compete each other' instead of 'compete with each other', missing articles ('toxic work environment'), and awkward verb tenses such as 'thousands of civilians lives had being effected'. However, these errors rarely impede communication, and the meaning of the sentences remains generally clear. To reach a higher standard, the writer needs to increase control over complex grammatical structures and eliminate recurring errors in verb forms and prepositions.

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