Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

In todays world, Competition is everywhere it can be at work, at school or in our day to day life. Few people people assume its a excellent thing. Whereas others believe that we should try to be more understanding rather than racing against each other. I believe that if people are destined for the same goals then there will be competition.

Nowdays, people are competing everywhere, office workers are competing for promotion, students are racing against each other for obtaining good marks. A few might say it is great thing and can help each other motivate towards are goal and perform better. For example, my school had announced the student who gets the higher marks will win a compass box so everyone started to focus on academics to win. The prize motivated everyone to do better. Now talking about the people who believe that we should be cooperative, rather than competing. It has its positve sides racing against each other can create a sense of hatred amongst each other. For instance, when i won the compass box scoring the highest marks and one of my friend lost it by 2 marks he started bad mouthing about me that i cheated in exam and that created hatred between us.

From my perspective, competing against each other is a amazing thing it can help us outgrow others and help each other performing well in our day to day life. For instance, in my office my project partner got promtion even though i performed well in the project. It gave a unique energy to grab that promotion in the next attempt.

To encapsulate, competing can be a good thing if you are not a sensitve person who cannot handle a loss. Some people can say cooperating is a great choice to maintain peace between each other.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You discuss both competition and cooperation and give a clear preference for competition, supported by examples from school and work. The compass-box story illustrates both motivation and the resentment that can follow, so it is relevant to the task. However, the discussion is uneven: cooperation is mainly presented as a way to avoid hatred, with little explanation of how it benefits people or when it may be preferable. Your position also needs more careful development: the claim that competition is “a amazing thing” is broad, while the conclusion qualifies it by saying it is good only if someone can handle losing. Explain this qualification and weigh the two views more fully to make the response more complete and convincing.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, moving from an introduction to examples, a personal view and a conclusion. The school example also links competition with its possible negative effect, which helps connect the two sides. However, progression within the body paragraph is sometimes difficult to follow: the discussion shifts from competition to cooperation and back again without a clear separation of the arguments. Phrases such as “Now talking about” and “To encapsulate” act as signposts but sound mechanical, and some links between sentences are unclear. For example, “help each other motivate towards are goal” does not clearly show who is motivating whom. Organise each viewpoint in a distinct paragraph and use clearer references and transitions.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “competing for promotion,” “cooperative,” “motivated,” and “hatred.” The personal examples also make the language concrete. However, the range is limited and several word-choice, collocation and spelling errors make the writing less natural. Expressions such as “outgrow others,” “grab that promotion,” and “racing against each other” are not always precise for the intended meaning; “outperform others” or “work towards promotion” would be more suitable. There are also noticeable spelling errors, including “Nowdays,” “positve,” “promtion,” and “sensitve.” Build a wider set of accurate phrases for discussing collaboration, rivalry and their effects, and proofread spelling.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more extended sentences, including a conditional idea in “if people are destined for the same goals then there will be competition.” However, control is inconsistent, and errors in sentence boundaries, articles, agreement and verb forms occur frequently enough to make some sentences difficult to read. The opening joins independent clauses with commas: “Competition is everywhere it can be…”; use a full stop or a suitable conjunction. Other examples include “its a excellent thing,” “one of my friend,” and “help each other performing well.” Capitalisation and punctuation are also unreliable, as in the lowercase “i” and missing commas. Practise accurate sentence boundaries and basic agreement and article patterns before adding more complex structures.

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