Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-08

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)

Some people argue that competition at work, school and in daily life is a good thing whereas others believe that people need to cooperate with each other rather than competing with them. In my opinion, competiton should be present between each other but in a friendly way and we need to cooperate with them at the same time.

We need to be competitive in our daily lives but in a friendly way. Because, being competitive helps us to improve and move one step ahead. But on the other hand if we are not taking that competition in a friendly way then it turns out to be a jeously. People in our surrounding, whether it can be our collegues or freinds, they have something which we need to learn from them. So analyzing it and having friendly competition makes us improve ourselves. So we need to be competitive but at the same time need not to be jeoulos of them.

On the other hand, working with team or studying with friends helps develop coordination and cooperation which is very important in life. Whether it would be your assignment or your projects coordination is a key. Different people we are interacting with or working with have different midsets and thoughts. Therefore, we need to listen and understand everyone's point of view and we need to coordinate with each other so that everyone agrees on the same thing.

In conclusion, many people states that competition at work, at school or in a daily life is importanat whereas others state that rather than competing, we need to cooperate more. In my opinion we need to be competitive but in a friendly way and at the same time we need to coordinate with each other.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both sides of the discussion and state a consistent position: competition is useful when friendly, while cooperation is also necessary. The first body paragraph explains how observing colleagues and friends can motivate self-improvement, and the second gives relevant reasons for cooperation, such as coordination on assignments and projects. These points keep the response focused on the question. However, some ideas are more fully addressed than others: the benefits of competition are explained, but the cooperation paragraph mainly asserts that people should listen and agree, without showing in detail how this improves outcomes. A specific example and fuller explanation of each side would make the argument more developed and persuasive.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction presents your view, two body paragraphs discuss the contrasting ideas, and a conclusion restates your position. Linking phrases such as “On the other hand” and “In conclusion” help signal the stages of the argument. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical, with repeated use of “we need to” and repeated restatement of the same position in the introduction and conclusion. Some connections are also unclear: “Because, being competitive…” is separated awkwardly from the preceding sentence, and “Therefore” does not make the relationship between differing viewpoints and reaching agreement fully clear. Use a wider range of linking methods and make each sentence’s relationship to the previous one explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “competitive,” “cooperate,” “coordination,” and “point of view.” Some phrases, such as “friendly competition,” are appropriate and help express your position. However, the range is limited and several noticeable spelling and word-choice errors reduce precision, including “competiton,” “jeously,” “collegues,” “freinds,” and “midsets.” There are also awkward expressions such as “competing with them” and “coordinate with each other so that everyone agrees on the same thing.” Aim to check spelling carefully and learn natural collocations for discussing teamwork and rivalry. More precise vocabulary would help you explain the ideas without relying on repeated general phrases.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a conditional structure in “if we are not taking that competition in a friendly way then it turns out…” and a relative clause in “people…have different midsets and thoughts.” The overall meaning is generally understandable, but some grammatical errors remain. For example, “Because, being competitive helps…” is an incomplete sentence, and “many people states” has a subject–verb agreement error. There are also problems with sentence construction in “Whether it would be your assignment or your projects coordination is a key,” where the opening clause is not integrated correctly. Work on forming complete sentences, checking agreement and articles, and punctuating introductory clauses. Greater control of these patterns would make your argument smoother.

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