Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

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

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 people have an opinion that competition is what drives people for a better outcome. While others think that cooperation has a great significance for great results. I believe both qualities have their advantages and disadvantages and excess of anything may lead to suffering.

On the one hand, competition imposes a self-driven ability to do better. On the contrary, excessive competition may lead to jealousy among the team members that leads to toxicity ultimately. They focuses more on ideas and retain it to themselves which promotes introvert behaviour. Although, limited competition may positively impact the productivity of the project. The thrive to produce effective product is derived through competition.

On the other hand, cooperation is another aspect of improving the outcome in a positive manner. As there is a quote, "Cooperation is a way to success". When team members cooperate with each other, they bring innovative and creative ideas that optimize the results. Meanwhile, every member has his own expertise, thus cooperation leads to divide large task into small sub-tasks, that are easy to achieve, compared to one large complex one. Furthermore, time management is also promoted by team cooperation. However, excessive cooperation also impacted the project timelines because everyone wants to impose his idea into a project.

At the end, both cooperation and competition have their own significance to improve the quality of the work but a balance should be maintained among them to gain better results. In my opinion, competition should be remained inter-teams and cooperation in intra-teams of the organization.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You address both sides of the discussion and give a clear personal view: competition can motivate, cooperation can improve results, and a balance is needed. The final suggestion that competition should occur between teams and cooperation within them gives your opinion a specific direction. Relevant points include jealousy under excessive competition and the division of large tasks through cooperation. However, some ideas are asserted rather than fully explained: for example, the claim that cooperation can harm timelines because everyone wants to impose an idea is not illustrated or developed. The discussion also focuses mainly on teams and projects, with less attention to competition and cooperation at school or in daily life. More explanation and a concrete example would make the response more fully developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for competition and cooperation, and a conclusion. Signposting such as “On the one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “At the end” helps readers follow the discussion, and the ideas generally progress logically within each section. Some connections are less effective or mechanical, however. “On the contrary” does not clearly introduce a contrasting consequence of competition, while “Although” begins a sentence that is not grammatically completed as a subordinate clause. The reference in “that leads to toxicity” is also slightly unclear. To strengthen progression, use transitions that express the precise relationship between ideas and link each supporting point more explicitly to the paragraph’s main claim.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of topic-related vocabulary, including “competition,” “cooperation,” “productivity,” “innovative,” “expertise,” and “time management.” There are also attempts at less common expressions, such as “self-driven ability” and “intra-teams,” but some choices are inaccurate or unnatural, which limits precision. For instance, “retain it to themselves” is unclear in context, and “the thrive to produce effective product” does not express the intended idea naturally. “Impose his idea into a project” is also an awkward collocation. These choices do not prevent the reader from understanding the main argument, but more natural phrasing and careful word forms would improve clarity. Aim to learn vocabulary in common collocations rather than selecting elevated-sounding words in isolation.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex structures, including clauses introduced by “While,” “Although,” and “because,” and most of the argument remains understandable. Some grammatical errors nevertheless recur. “They focuses” has a subject–verb agreement error, and “a quote” is followed by a sentence fragment in the opening: “While others think…” The sentence beginning “Although, limited competition…” is also incomplete, while “cooperation leads to divide” uses an incorrect verb pattern. In the conclusion, “competition should be remained” has an incorrect passive construction. These errors sometimes make relationships between ideas less clear. Practise complete sentence structures, agreement, and verb patterns, then proofread specifically for these forms while retaining your attempts at complex sentences.

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