Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-11

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)

Nowdays some people believe that competition at work, at school and daily life is beneficial. however others thhink that people should cooperate more indtead of competing each others. In my opinion both are important but cooperation is more usefull for achieving long term success.

on the one hand side competion can encourage people to work harder and improve thier skills. when students compete with thier classmates they may study more seriously to achieve better marks. simalarly employees may try to perform better than their colleagues toget promotioms or higher salaries. for example ina company competiton canmotivated workers to complete thier tasks on time and develop new ideas . th erefore a healthy competition can increase confidence and help people to achieve their goals.

on the other hand cooperations is also very important because people can achieve better results by working together, when infividuals share thier knowledge and help each other, they cansolve promblems more easily.

in my view competition is usefull when it encourages peopple to improve themselves but too much competition can create jealoust and unhealthy pressure.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You present a relevant opinion—that both approaches matter, but cooperation is more useful for long-term success—and give reasons for competition, including students seeking better marks and employees aiming for promotion. However, the discussion is only partial: the cooperation side is introduced but not developed with a specific example or explanation of its benefits beyond solving problems more easily. Your final point about excessive competition causing jealousy and pressure is relevant, but it is not fully connected to the earlier discussion. The response also does not meet the required minimum length, so there is not enough development to address both views fully. Extend each side with clear reasoning and a relevant example, then reinforce your position in a conclusion.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, a paragraph beginning “on the one hand,” a contrasting point, and a final statement of your view. These signposts help readers follow the basic contrast. However, progression is limited because the cooperation discussion is very brief and the final opinion appears without a developed concluding paragraph. Some linking is mechanical, and punctuation sometimes obscures the relationship between ideas—for example, “working together, when individuals share…” joins two complete thoughts unclearly. Use separate, clearly organised paragraphs for each view and your conclusion, and connect supporting examples explicitly to the point they illustrate. This would make the overall progression more complete and the links between ideas easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “competition,” “cooperate,” “achieve better marks,” “higher salaries,” and “healthy competition.” This gives the reader enough context to understand your main ideas. However, the range is limited and several spelling errors make the writing less clear, such as “Nowdays,” “thhink,” “indtead,” and “promblems.” Some word combinations are also inaccurate or awkward, including “competing each others” and “competition can motivated workers.” Aim to check spelling carefully and learn common collocations as complete phrases. More precise terms such as “collaborate,” “workplace rivalry,” or “share expertise” would help you express the two sides with greater flexibility and accuracy.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt some complex sentence forms, including “When students compete with their classmates, they may study more seriously…” and “when individuals share their knowledge and help each other…”. These show an effort to explain cause and effect, and the main message is generally understandable. However, sentence structures are often incomplete or inaccurately joined. For example, “on the other hand cooperations is also very important because people can achieve better results by working together, when…” contains a faulty connection between clauses, while “competition can motivated workers” has an incorrect verb form. Capitalisation and sentence punctuation are also inconsistent, with several sentences beginning in lowercase. Practise forming complete sentences with accurate subject–verb agreement and verb forms, and use full stops or appropriate conjunctions to separate ideas.

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