Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-19
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)
Some people argue that competiting each other at different places is a beneficial habit while others think that cooperation is more good instead of competition. I strongly agree that competition is necessary at school, work places and in daily life. This essay will disscus both merits before reaching at a conclusion.
To begin with, competition is a motivational force for individuals. it pushes to work hard and stay focused on a goal. As a result, people struggle to win and achieve a certain goal. For instance, at schools or work places competition motivates students and empolyees to competite each other due to which everyone put their efforts to get a good grades and high position. On the other hand,competition might cause negative affects such as people may become leave others helpless and only focused on their on work. Consequently, people behave selfish and rude instead of become cooperative.
Some people believe that we should cooperate and help each other so everyone move forward equaily. It makes our environment helpful and easy to approach others for guidence. However, sometimes people becomes less motivated and do not work with much effort as in a competition. Therefore, in cooperation people do not work with their full energy they have to do it.
To conclude, I strongly agree that both merits have their own advantages but competition in a positive sense asisst people stay motivated and work hard also helps in achieving certain goals.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0
You give a clear overall preference for competition, and you mention relevant benefits and drawbacks of both competition and cooperation. However, the discussion is only partial: the cooperation view is briefly described, while the competition argument receives more attention, and neither is developed with a specific, convincing example. The school/work example remains general, and the conclusion says both have advantages without explaining how cooperation fits your stated preference. The response is also 10 words below the required minimum, which limits the space available to develop the ideas. To strengthen the response, explain each side more fully, add a concrete example, and make your final position consistent and explicit about when cooperation is valuable.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, a paragraph focused mainly on competition, a paragraph on cooperation, and a conclusion. Basic signposting such as “To begin with,” “On the other hand,” and “To conclude” helps readers follow the broad direction. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear: the first body paragraph moves from motivation to selfish behaviour without explaining the relationship between these points. Some linking is mechanical, and the conclusion does not clearly resolve the contrast between your preference for competition and the claim that both approaches have advantages. Develop one main point at a time, connect examples directly to claims, and use clearer references between sentences to make the argument flow more naturally.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “motivational force,” “focused on a goal,” “cooperate,” and “selfish.” This gives the response enough topic-related language to communicate its main ideas. However, the range is limited and several noticeable spelling, word-form, and collocation errors make parts less clear or natural, such as “competiting,” “more good,” “negative affects,” and “get a good grades.” Repetition of “competition,” “work,” and “people” also restricts precision. Build a wider set of accurate phrases for describing collaboration, motivation, and outcomes, and check spelling and word forms carefully. More natural collocations would make your points easier to understand and more convincing.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
You attempt both simple and longer sentences, including cause-and-effect structures such as “As a result” and “Consequently,” and a contrast introduced by “However.” Nevertheless, the range is limited, and errors occur frequently in sentence construction, agreement, articles, and verb forms. For example, “it pushes to work hard” lacks a clear object, “everyone put their efforts” has incorrect agreement, and “people becomes less motivated” does not match the plural subject. The sentence “people may become leave others helpless” is also structurally faulty. Capitalisation and punctuation are inconsistent, including the lowercase “it” after a full stop and missing spacing after a comma. Practise accurate complex sentences and proofread each sentence for subject–verb agreement and complete verb patterns.
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