Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-14

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 5.0)

In today's fast-paced world, everyone wants to become completely perfect in daily life tasks, and all the individuals try to compete each other. Certain people believe that competition is a beneficial element in every field of life, while others argue that cooperation is the most effective thing instead of competition. From my perspective, both views have valid arguments in daily life, competition produces motivation and better performance, while cooperation offers teamwork and common goals.

On the one hand, competition can boost people energy and motivate them. A significant number of people who works in office or studying at school try to compete each other for benefits and personal achivement. It can encourage to work harder and develop effective skills during work and studies. For Instance people who work at office eagerly interested to get promotion that's why they work harder and effectively. In addition, they can provide better perfomance and inpress their boss, they can benefits to the company and improve econimic growth.

On the other hand, critics argue that we should concentrate on cooperation rather than competing others, working with others make people more cooperative. It develops teamwork and can achieve common goals through cooperation. For example if people worlk togather, they can achieve

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

You introduce both sides of the debate and state a relevant opinion: competition can motivate and improve performance, while cooperation supports teamwork and shared goals. The workplace promotion example also gives some support to the competition argument. However, the response addresses the task only partially: the cooperation discussion stops mid-sentence at “they can achieve,” and there is no completed example or explanation of how cooperation benefits people. Your own position is stated, but it is not developed beyond a brief summary. The response is also 45 words below the required minimum, which limits the space available to discuss both views. Develop each side with a complete reason and example, then explain your opinion more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, a paragraph beginning “On the one hand,” and a contrasting paragraph beginning “On the other hand.” These signposts help readers identify the two viewpoints. However, progression is limited because the final paragraph ends abruptly, leaving its main point incomplete. Some links between ideas are also awkward or unclear; for example, the sentence about impressing a boss and benefiting the company contains several claims joined together without a clear relationship. The introduction’s final sentence previews the discussion, but the body does not complete that plan. Use clearer sentence boundaries, connect each example directly to its main idea, and finish the cooperation paragraph before concluding.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “competition,” “cooperation,” “motivate,” “teamwork,” “common goals,” and “promotion.” This gives you enough language to communicate the main subject and distinguish the two views. However, the range is limited and several word-choice, collocation, and spelling errors make the writing less natural, such as “compete each other,” “boost people energy,” “personal achivement,” and “inpress their boss.” Some terms are also repeated rather than varied. Aim to learn common word partnerships, such as “compete with one another” and “boost people’s energy,” and check spelling carefully. More precise vocabulary would help you explain the effects of competition and cooperation clearly.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more extended sentence forms, including a contrast in the introduction and explanations beginning “It can encourage…” and “In addition…”. However, control is inconsistent, and errors in agreement, verb patterns, articles, and sentence construction are frequent enough to affect clarity. For example, “A significant number of people who works” has a subject–verb agreement problem, while “It can encourage to work harder” is missing the person who is encouraged. The opening sentence also joins two independent ideas with a comma. Practise building accurate basic clauses first, then combine them with conjunctions such as “because” and “while.” Check agreement and ensure each sentence has a complete, clearly expressed subject and verb.

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