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)

Competition is a subject of considerable debate. A few believe that it brings in the most productive and ambitious side of a person. However, for few others it can be as source psychological pressure and constant distress. In my opinon, cooperative enviroments should be promoted, where everyone promotes each other and help with growth and progress.

Compeitition is beneficial as when it remains positive and healthy. It encourages you to be the best and the most productive version of yourself, and motivates you to progress and grow. It inculcates the qualities of perseverance, commitment to excellence and adaptibility. For instance, in compeititive corporate enviroments it is of foremost importance that an individual keeps on evolving and learning new things to stay relevant in their fields.

Moreover, compeitition teaches people to strive and be resilient. It involves immense personal development as it builds in you to never give up and continue chasing your goals. As in, education there is high compeitation for the limited scholarships and placements in prestigious universities. Therefore, the ability to continue working towards one's goal and being able to cope up with rejections can prove to be useful in the long run.

Nevertheless, competition at a very young age example, in school, can prove to be extremely obscure and have negative consequences. It create feelings of insecurity within children of others been better than them. These traits then become the part of their personalities which are carried forward through their entire lives. Thus, school enviroments should should be cooperative and supportive, and they should let children feel trusted and secured. Such an enviroment is a better way of inreasing their productivity and make them a well roundend and positive individuals.

Furthermore, at work places the constant threat from the peers can lead to individuals getting mentally disturbed, which eventually showcases in their deteriorated physical health. Hence, work places should offer a calm, and stress-free enviroment, where people can work freely. This approach has more chances of boosting their productivity and eventually their job satisfaction.

In conclusion, healthy competition is good and supported, as it promotes productivity and willingness to get better and excel in lives. However, it turns evil in no time, by threatening the individuals as they feel intimidated by others in their workplace or schools. Therefore, I support cooperative enviroments where everyone helps one another other grow and progress by providing a helping hand.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the views in favour of competition and those in favour of cooperation, while also presenting a clear personal position in the introduction and conclusion. Ideas are relevant, such as noting how competition fosters perseverance and how early school rivalry can cause insecurity. However, some ideas remain under-developed rather than fully extended; for instance, the point about university placements could be supported with more specific outcomes beyond coping with rejection. The response fully satisfies the requirements of the lower band and demonstrates some elements of the next, particularly through its clear overall stance and well-selected examples, though deeper extension of all arguments is still needed to reach a higher level.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear logical progression from discussing the benefits of competition to its negative psychological impacts, concluding with a balanced view that supports cooperation. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate distinct themes, moving from corporate environments to education and finally to workplace stress. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or features minor lapses in referencing, such as the slightly repetitive transition words and phrasing ('Moreover', 'Furthermore') and occasional awkward links. These features place the text firmly at the lower band level, whilst its clear structural progression and paragraph division show flashes of the next band up.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The writer uses an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, attempting less common items such as 'perseverance', 'resilient', and 'deteriorated physical health'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors, awkward word choices, and spelling mistakes throughout the text, including 'opinon' for opinion, 'enviroments' for environments, 'Compeitition' for competition, 'obscure' used incorrectly to mean harmful or obscure, and 'inreasing' for increasing. These inaccuracies do not heavily impede communication, allowing the reader to follow the argument, but they restrict the lexical score. To reach a higher band, the student needs to demonstrate greater precision in word choice, correct collocation, and consistent spelling control.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures such as conditional and relative clauses. There are some grammatical errors and awkward phrasing—such as 'can be as source psychological pressure', 'children of others been better than them', and 'school enviroments should should be cooperative'—yet these errors rarely impede communication and the main meaning remains clear. This reflects a solid footing in the lower band, alongside some successful complex structures that hint at higher-level control. To improve, the student must increase accuracy in article usage, preposition patterns, and subject-verb agreement while reducing frequent minor slips.

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