Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-12

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)

Some individuals argue that competition at wotkplace, at educational institute and in personal life is a positive development. Whereas others argue that people should work together, rather than competing each other. In my perspective, working together has some benefits but competition offers more advatanges.

To begin with, competition at many aspects of life is considered to be beneficial by certain people. The reason behind this is competition gives an sense of achieving something that is better than others. This mindset is an important aspect for individual growth, let it be a student, a employee and so on. In my perspective, i believe that competetive edge is required in many aspects of life and it plays a major role in personal growth. For instance, a employee working in a company without the sense of competiong with other employee will loose motivation and efficiency will drop with it too. So competition is more beneficial.

furthermore, the other group argue that working other has benefits such as heavy tasks are completed with efforts made by everyone. This teamwork eventually will improve the relations of individuals and their ability to work together will get better with it too. For example, a group of students given a big task that can be completed individually and by whole group too. So rather than working alone, performing the task together will be easier and less time consuming.

In conclusion, some believe that competition in many aspects is neccesary, while other believe that working together is more beneficial. In my perspective, although working together offers some benefits but competiton pros outweigh working together's benefits. As competition led to more individual growth compare to working together.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You discuss both perspectives and state a consistent preference for competition, so the main parts of the task are addressed. The competition paragraph gives a relevant reason—motivation and personal growth—and illustrates it with an employee example. The cooperation paragraph also explains practical benefits, including completing demanding work and improving relationships. However, these ideas are not developed equally: the teamwork example is hypothetical and its wording makes the point difficult to follow, while the claim that competition improves individual growth is repeated rather than explored in depth. To strengthen the response, explain more precisely how competition can produce better outcomes, and acknowledge when cooperation may be more effective before reinforcing your position with a specific example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two views, and a conclusion that restates your opinion. Connectors such as “To begin with,” “Furthermore,” and “In conclusion” help signal the stages of the argument. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes mechanical, and some references are unclear. For example, “So competition is more beneficial” follows an employee example without fully explaining the link, while “a big task that can be completed individually and by whole group too” is hard to interpret. The conclusion also repeats the introduction rather than drawing the discussion together. Use clearer links between each reason and its example, and vary transitions by showing relationships such as contrast, cause, and consequence.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “competition,” “teamwork,” “motivation,” “efficiency,” and “personal growth,” which allows you to communicate the main ideas. However, the range is limited and several noticeable spelling, word-form, and collocation errors reduce precision. Examples include “wotkplace,” “advatanges,” “competetive,” and “neccesary”; phrases such as “competing each other” and “working other” are also not natural English. Repetition of “benefits” and “working together” further limits variety. Build a bank of accurate topic phrases and check spelling carefully. More precise expressions such as “compete with colleagues” and “collaborate on demanding tasks” would make the argument clearer and more natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex forms, including a contrast structure in “although working together offers some benefits” and a relative clause in “a group of students given a big task.” The overall meaning is usually understandable, but some grammatical errors remain. For example, “competition gives an sense” has an article error, “a employee” needs a different article, and “a group of students given a big task” is an incomplete construction. The final sentence, “As competition led to more individual growth compare to working together,” is also a fragment and has an unclear comparison. Practise complete sentence structures, article use, subject–verb agreement, and comparative forms; then proofread punctuation and capitalisation, including the lowercase “i” and “furthermore.”

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