Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-09

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)

Certain group of people believe that being competitive everywhere is a good thing. Meanwhile, other group believe in being more cooperative. I believe cooperation is also important but competition brings out the core competency in people.

In one hand, competition is paramount everywhere. School, job, society everywhere people want to stand out by being on top of the list. There is always ranking among peoples around you. Your social prestige and success is measured by how much you have achieved. To gain that respect, we should always be ahead on that competition.

On the other hand, we achieve certain things only by being cooperative. It is nearly impossible to achieve everything alone. Unequivocally we have to remain undeterred to become number one but we need to be cooperative as well. Those who are adept in cooperating have always achieved better. Moving forward without caring about the impact we have on the other people will draw you back.

For example, I am working in hotel industry where I am facing lot of competition. I attribute my success to myself being competitive but at the same time I am cooperative too. I pay intense attentiveness to customer satisfaction so that i could deliver better result by cooperating with my colleagues.

To conclude, always achieve better than the rest. Life is full of competition and your rank will determine how your life goes ahead but at some point, you need to be cooperative. Success is a collective effort. Life would be much better if we cooperate but always try your best to stay ahead.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both perspectives and state a position: cooperation matters, but competition can bring out people’s abilities. The workplace example adds relevant personal support, especially your account of balancing competition with cooperation to serve customers. However, the two views are not developed equally. The case for competition relies mainly on rankings, prestige and being “ahead,” while the benefits of cooperation are asserted rather than illustrated in detail. The conclusion also shifts toward urging readers to stay ahead, which makes your final position less balanced than the opening. To strengthen the response, explain more specifically when competition helps and when cooperation produces better outcomes, then make your preferred balance consistent throughout.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two views, a personal example and a conclusion. Transitions such as “On the other hand” help readers follow the discussion. However, some linking is mechanical, and the progression within paragraphs is not always clear. For example, the competition paragraph moves from school and work to social prestige without explaining how these examples connect. The final paragraph repeats ideas about ranking and cooperation rather than bringing the discussion together into a precise conclusion. Improve cohesion by grouping related points, using clearer references to earlier ideas, and making each paragraph develop one central claim rather than relying mainly on contrast markers.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for the topic, including terms such as “competitive,” “cooperative,” “social prestige” and “customer satisfaction.” There are also attempts at less common expressions, but some are inaccurate or unnatural in context: “intense attentiveness” and “draw you back” do not express your intended meanings clearly, while “core competency” is not the most natural phrase for personal strengths. Repetition of “competition,” “cooperative” and “achieve” also limits flexibility. Aim for precise, natural collocations and vary repeated terms—for instance, describe how teamwork improves service or how rivalry motivates people. These adjustments would make your ideas clearer while retaining the ambition shown in your vocabulary choices.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, and most sentences communicate the intended meaning. Some grammatical errors remain, particularly with articles, agreement, plurals and sentence construction. For example, “Certain group of people” needs an article or plural form, and “other group believe” has a subject–verb agreement problem. “In one hand” should be “On the one hand,” while “how much you have achieved” does not agree naturally with the plural subject “people.” There are also inconsistent capitalisation and punctuation choices, such as the lowercase “i.” Review these patterns and proofread each sentence for a clear subject and verb. More accurate control of these forms would make your varied sentence structures easier to follow.

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