Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-13

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 6.5)

Nowadays, there is an argument about competition and cooperation in various stages of life. Some people believe that cooperation is more crucial than competition. Although helping others has its own importance, I tend to agree with those who believe that a reasonable amount of competition is necessary to achieve life long goals. In this essay, I will support my opinion with examples.

Firstly, cooperating and helping others build strong relationships in every field of life. Wheather you are studying, working or performimg your routine tasks, if you help others and cooperate with them, they in return assisst you when you're in trouble. For instance, at workplace, when you feel exhausted with a particular task which is hard and challenging, some senior person can facilitate you only if you already have cooperated with them as it is said "tit for tat". Therefore, cooperation has a fundamental role at every life stage.

On the flip side, when someone has bigger life goals and wants to achieve higher levels in any field, competing with others becomes crucial. The underlying reason stems from the fact that competition keeps you on your track and you do not waste a lot of time facilitating others. For example in school sports, if no one is competiting, no one would put the required amount of effort to win. Thus competitions are unavoidable.

In my opinion, competitions are far more essential than cooperations particularly in the life of a young person. The primary reason behind that is people usually lose the motivation to aquire the best in their lives. If they're competing with someone, they would definitely always feel motivated and put a lot more effort to achieve their goals. Those students are the best example who compete with their siblings in studies as these students maintain a healthy competing enviroment even at home which boosts them to achieve higher ranks in future.

In conclusion, competition in all life stages encourages to aquire the greater aims of life. However, a reasonable amount of cooperation is required to grow in professional life.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You address both sides of the discussion and state a clear preference for competition, especially in the introduction and the paragraph beginning “In my opinion.” The cooperation paragraph gives a relevant workplace example, while the sports and sibling examples support your case for competition. This meets the task well overall. However, some ideas are asserted more than fully explained: for example, the claim that competition prevents people from “wast[ing] a lot of time facilitating others” is not clearly connected to achieving goals, and the final paragraph’s focus on young people narrows a position that earlier applies to all life stages. Develop the comparison more precisely and explain the limits of competition as well as its benefits.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for cooperation and competition, a paragraph stating your own view, and a conclusion. Sequencing is easy to follow, and signposts such as “Firstly,” “On the flip side,” and “In conclusion” make the stages of the argument visible. This provides a coherent progression, though some linking is mechanical and the relationship between ideas is occasionally unclear. For instance, “Therefore, cooperation has a fundamental role” repeats the paragraph’s point rather than advancing it, while the shift from competition in all life stages to its particular importance for young people could be better signposted. Use more varied links and make references between claims and examples more explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range for the topic, including phrases such as “strong relationships,” “underlying reason,” “life goals,” and “healthy competing environment.” These choices help communicate the main argument, and the meaning remains clear. However, attempts at less common or formal vocabulary sometimes produce inaccurate or unnatural combinations: “facilitating others” does not clearly express helping them, “aquire the best” is not idiomatic, and “cooperations” is an awkward plural. There are also spelling errors, including “Wheather,” “assisst,” and “enviroment.” Aim for precise, natural collocations and check spelling carefully; this would make the vocabulary more flexible and controlled.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

You use a mix of simple and complex forms, including conditional structures such as “if you help others … they in return assist you” and a relative clause in “Those students are the best example who compete with their siblings.” Most sentences communicate the intended meaning, and the argument is generally easy to follow. Some grammatical errors remain, particularly in agreement, verb forms, and sentence construction. For example, “cooperating and helping others build” would be clearer as “cooperation and helping others build” or “cooperating and helping others builds”; “when you feel exhausted … some senior person can facilitate you” has an awkwardly formed clause; and “competition … encourages to acquire” lacks a clear object after “encourages.” Review agreement and ensure each verb pattern is complete.

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