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)

For people's lives, few things are more crucial than working in competition environment, while others argue that It is important to cooperate with people when they work. Nowadys, many would agree that contemporary society has nearly transcnded its traditional boundaries and will become boundless in its pursuit of professional development. Nevertheless, I firmly believe that people should work in competetive way to develop their creativity.

Naturally, competition in workplaces, schools, and everyday life is considered essential for personal development, creating invaluable opportunities to strengthen individuals’ self-confidence, determination, and problem-solving abilities.. Moreover, it demonstrates unparalleled benefits, reducing fear and improving confidence. Furthermore, competition can motivate individuals to improve their performance, overcome their weaknesses, and strive for excellence in their academic and professional lives.

Under certain circumstances, many people shy away from cooperation in workplaces, schools and everyday activities due to a range of challenges, such as lack of confidence, limited creativity and slower decision-making. While cooperation in workplace and other places is widely embraced in many major city worldwide, people in imovershied and developing knowledge frequently contend with profound lack of failure and deteriorating conditions when striving to implement this approach. Therefore, the notion of cooperate in workplace is not always appealing.

In conclusion, although cooperation can promote mutual understanding and teamwork, I firmly believe that competition is more beneficial overall, as it encourages individuals to improve their performance, strengthen their abilities, and strive for excellence in both academic and professional settings. Furthermore, healthy competition can foster self-confidence, determination, and a strong sense of personal responsibility, enabling individuals to overcome challenges and achieve their long-term ambitions.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You give a clear overall preference for competition, stating that it can develop creativity and help people strive for excellence. You also mention benefits of cooperation, including mutual understanding and teamwork, so both sides of the question are present. However, the discussion of cooperation is less convincing and is framed mainly through reasons people avoid it, such as “lack of confidence” and “slower decision-making,” rather than explaining when cooperation is valuable. Several claims about competition are repeated without specific examples or explanation of how they lead to better outcomes. To strengthen the response, develop each view with a concrete example and explain the reasoning behind it, while keeping your position clear throughout.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, separate discussion paragraphs and a conclusion. Linking expressions such as “Moreover,” “Furthermore,” “Therefore” and “In conclusion” help signal relationships between ideas. However, progression within the body paragraphs is sometimes unclear: the cooperation paragraph moves from people avoiding cooperation to claims about cities and developing contexts without explaining the connection. The introduction also includes a broad statement about society becoming “boundless” that does not clearly lead into the argument. Some linking words are used mechanically, and ideas about confidence and performance recur in several places. Organise each paragraph around one main claim, then explain and illustrate it before moving to the next point.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You attempt a range of topic-related vocabulary, including “problem-solving abilities,” “determination,” “strive for excellence” and “personal responsibility.” These choices show an effort to express abstract ideas relevant to the task. However, noticeable spelling and word-choice errors sometimes make the meaning difficult to follow, as in “transcnded,” “competetive,” “imovershied” and “lack of failure.” Some combinations are also unnatural, such as “work in competition environment” and “the notion of cooperate.” Repetition of “confidence,” “competition” and “workplace” limits flexibility. Aim for accurate, natural collocations and check spelling carefully; using simpler but precise wording is more effective than choosing ambitious expressions that do not fit the intended meaning.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use both simple statements and more complex forms, including the contrast introduced by “although” in the conclusion and the participle phrase “creating invaluable opportunities” in the first body paragraph. This gives the response some structural variety. However, errors in sentence construction and grammatical forms are frequent enough to affect clarity. For example, “working in competition environment” is missing an article, and “the notion of cooperate” uses an incorrect form after “of.” The opening sentence is also awkwardly constructed, while punctuation is inconsistent, including a doubled full stop after “abilities.” Review articles, noun and verb forms, and sentence boundaries. Building accurate sentences first will make your more complex structures easier to control.

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