Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-07

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)

Some people believe that competition at work, at school and in daily life is beneficial, while others think that we should work together instead of competing. I believe competition is useful when it motivates individuals to perform better rather than focusing only on defeating others.

Competition is a useful way to encourage people to push their limits and perform better. People often practice consistently to perform well in the competitions. Healthy competition can also teach people to perform under pressure. When individuals compete, they learn to control their nervousness and remain focused on a goal. These skills can help them handle difficult tasks more confidently in the future. For example, a child who is struggling with public speaking might get motivated to practice more and push his limits to perform better after taking part in a speaking competition. In this way, the child feel more comfortable speaking in public and perform better than before.

However, cooperation is particularly important in the workplace because employees often need to complete tasks by collaborating with each other. Cooperation is also a necessary skill in corporate life because everyone has different opinions. If employees do not respect one another’s perspectives, they may struggle to complete tasks by the deadline. Thus, important tasks might remain unfinished if people do not work together.

In conclusion, competition can motivate individuals to improve their performance, while cooperation helps people complete shared tasks effectively. I believe competition is beneficial when it encourages personal progress without preventing people from working together when necessary.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both views and state a clear, qualified opinion: competition is useful when it supports personal improvement, while cooperation remains necessary for shared work. The discussion of competition is supported with a relevant example about a child practising public speaking, and the workplace paragraph explains why differing perspectives require collaboration. However, the two sides are not developed equally: cooperation receives less explanation and no concrete example, and the discussion of competition focuses mainly on individual performance. The response is also 8 words below the 250-word minimum; the 11 words copied from the task prompt are not counted. Add a little more development, such as a specific workplace example showing how cooperation improves an outcome.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction presents the two positions and your view, separate body paragraphs discuss competition and cooperation, and the conclusion restates the main argument. Linking expressions such as “For example,” “However,” and “In conclusion” help readers follow the progression. This is a coherent structure, and the central contrast is easy to understand. To make the organisation more flexible and fully developed, connect the body paragraphs more explicitly to your qualified position—for instance, explain how healthy competition can coexist with teamwork. Some ideas also repeat “perform better” and “work together”; varying these references and adding a transition between the example and its result would make cohesion less formulaic.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for the topic, including “push their limits,” “under pressure,” “perspectives,” and “shared tasks.” These choices communicate the main ideas clearly, and the vocabulary is generally appropriate to an essay about competition and cooperation. However, several key expressions are repeated, particularly “perform better,” “competition,” and “tasks,” which limits flexibility. A few phrases are also imprecise or less natural: “practice consistently to perform well in the competitions” could be more concise, and “corporate life” is less specific than the workplace context requires. Aim to use more precise collocations and vary repeated terms, while keeping the language natural rather than adding unnecessarily complex vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including subordinate clauses such as “because employees often need to complete tasks by collaborating with each other” and a conditional sentence beginning “If employees do not respect…”. Most sentences are clear, and errors do not prevent the reader from understanding your argument. Some grammatical slips remain, however. In “the child feel more comfortable” and “perform better than before,” the subject is singular, so the verbs should be “feels” and “performs.” The example also shifts from “a child” to “his,” which could be avoided with “they.” Continue checking subject–verb agreement and pronoun consistency, and use a wider variety of complex structures accurately.

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