Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-15

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 people argue that competiting at work, at school and in daily life is beneficial, while others belives that cooperating more, rather than competing is more crucial and paly a vital role in success. This essay will discuss both view before concluding that cooperating is a positive development.

On the other hand, there are several compelling reasons why people believe that competiting is advantageous. The primary argument in favour of this view is that it provides individuals with great flexibility and opportunities, which in turn leads personal motivation and higher productivity. This is because people work harder when they want to compete others and achieve goals. Moreover, when peopel wore alone there productivity level increase automatically. For example, in pakistan students study more when they want to achieve higher grades.

On the other hand, i am convinced that cooperating is more superior and sustainable approach, rather than competing againts each other. Unlike, the former view, this approach not only benefits individuals but also has a positive impact on society as a whole, such as improving confidence level, mutual respects and good communication skills. When people work as a team they communicate with each other through this there confidence level increase. In addition, when you cooperate with others we learn how to respect others opinnion. For example, in schools students work on different projects in group and share useful information and interesting things with other. There i belive that the advantageous of cooperating is outweigh those of competing againts each other.

In conclusion, altough both view have their merit, i belive cooperating is more significant because its benefits are more far-reaching and sustainable.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both sides of the question and state a clear preference for cooperation in the introduction and conclusion. The discussion of competition includes motivation, productivity and a student example, while the cooperation paragraph gives reasons involving communication, confidence and respect, supported by a group-project example. This is relevant coverage, but some points are not fully explained: the claim that working alone automatically increases productivity is asserted rather than clarified, and the benefits of cooperation are listed without showing in detail how they lead to wider success. The comparison between the two approaches could also be more explicit. The response contains 263 words; 9 words copied from the task prompt were not counted.

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 position. Linking expressions such as “Moreover,” “In addition” and “For example” help signal relationships between ideas. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or unclear. Both main paragraphs begin with “On the other hand,” even though the first introduces the competition view, and “Unlike, the former view” is awkwardly punctuated and does not clearly identify the contrast. The sentence beginning “There i belive” also makes the relationship between the preceding example and your conclusion difficult to follow. Use a wider range of accurate transitions and clearer references, and ensure each paragraph develops one line of reasoning in a logical sequence.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of vocabulary for the topic, including “productivity,” “sustainable,” “mutual respects” and “far-reaching,” and your meaning is generally understandable. There are also attempts to express more complex ideas, such as cooperation benefiting society as a whole. However, spelling and word-choice errors are noticeable, including “competiting,” “belives,” “paly,” “peopel” and “opinnion.” Some combinations are unnatural or imprecise: “great flexibility and opportunities,” “compete others,” and “confidence level increase” do not express the intended ideas naturally. Aim to learn vocabulary in common collocations and check spelling and word forms carefully. More precise phrasing would make your arguments clearer and more fluent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including a relative clause in “opportunities, which in turn leads…” and a conditional structure in “when they want to compete…”. The overall meaning can usually be followed, but some grammatical errors recur and occasionally make relationships unclear. For example, “it provides… which in turn leads personal motivation” is missing a grammatical link, while “when people work as a team they communicate… through this there confidence level increase” joins ideas without correct punctuation and has agreement problems. There are also errors in articles, plurals and sentence construction, as in “a more superior… approach” and “the advantageous… is outweigh.” Practise accurate clause joining, subject–verb agreement and sentence boundaries while retaining your attempts at complex structures.

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