Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

This issue has sparked a considerable debate, with opinions sharply divided. While one school of thought holds that, competition in our daily life whether its work, studies or sports are good things while other maintains that we ought to help each other in our daily task rether then just competing against one another.

Proponents of this view argue that, competition in daily life is really important and its good thing to have in our lives. From their perspective there are a lot of benefits of begin in the competition. they think begin in the competition motivate the individuals to stuck to their goals and be displine in their life so they will surpass the other candidates whom are in the competition with them. They always push themselves and their childerns in that competition so they will succeed in their lives.

Conversaly, opponents argue that, we should try to b cooperative to each other. Rether then competing against each other. They believe in kindness and they think everything was up to fate you will get what was written for you. So for that reason we should be coopertive to each other and useful to eachother in our daily life like if you see a person and you are able to help him go ahead and do it without any hesitations.

Personally, I find that latter argument more persuasive. And that is because we all humans are here for very limited time and the thing that stay here will b our good deeds that we did to people they will always remember you in their prayers. Another main reason is to be kind to the people who are suffering in their life and it cost nothing to kind rether then involving our self in the competition that will never ends.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both sides of the discussion and make your own position clear: you explain why competition may motivate people, then favour cooperation because kindness and helping others matter. This gives the response a relevant central argument. However, the discussion is only partly developed. The competition paragraph mainly repeats that it is beneficial and says people become disciplined and surpass others, without a concrete example or fuller explanation. The cooperation argument relies heavily on fate and good deeds being remembered, which does not fully explain how cooperation benefits people at work, school, or in daily life. Develop each view with a specific example and make the comparison between their effects more explicit.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a coherent overall arrangement: an introduction, a paragraph for each view, and a concluding paragraph stating your preference. Transitions such as “Conversely” and “Personally” help signal the change in direction, and the reader can follow the main argument. Cohesion is less successful within paragraphs, where ideas are sometimes joined mechanically or repeated. For example, the cooperation paragraph repeats “we should be cooperative” and “each other” rather than progressing from the claim to its consequences. The final paragraph also begins several points with “And” and “Another main reason,” making the links feel abrupt. Use clearer topic sentences and connect each supporting explanation directly to the paragraph’s main idea.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “competition,” “cooperate,” “benefits,” “goals,” and “good deeds,” so the main ideas are generally understandable. However, the range is limited and several word-choice, collocation, and spelling errors make the writing less precise. Phrases such as “begin in the competition,” “stuck to their goals,” and “cost nothing to kind” are not natural English, while “daily life” and “each other” recur frequently. There are also spelling errors such as “Conversaly,” “displine,” and “childerns.” Build a more accurate range of topic-specific expressions and check spelling; for example, describe competition as motivating people to “strive for improvement” rather than using repeated general wording.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more extended sentence forms, including a contrast in the opening and explanations using “so” and “because.” However, control is inconsistent, and errors in sentence structure, agreement, verb forms, and punctuation sometimes make the reader work to understand the meaning. For instance, “competition … are good things” has a subject–verb agreement problem, while “everything was up to fate you will get what was written for you” joins clauses without a clear grammatical connection. The opening sentence also contains an incomplete contrast structure, and several sentences use commas where a full stop or conjunction is needed. Practise building accurate sentences with one main idea and then add subordinate clauses once the basic structure is secure.

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