Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-20
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)
Few people beleive that competition in every aspect is a great thing.However others are in more favor of cooperting instead of having a conflict among each other.I partly agree with those statements.I believe that there are good reasons in support of each argument.
Well In my opinon it depends on mind state individually.Every individual has it's own opinion of doing work.Competition is sometimes a great thing. There are few people who can do better when they are competing against someone. Because their nature involves accepting challenges and they enjoy being in a competition.For instance there are two intellegent kids at school.They can outstand in their field if there was a challenge between two of them.Each of them will want to do better than one another.
Altough some people are quite opposite.They like to collaborate.The reason behind this is that these people can perform better when they are in groups rather than doing anything idvidually.They like to assist others and they also love being assisted. Their argument is that working together can provide significant results than working alone,which a pretty solid point.In my opinion it also depends on the nature of the job,if it's a job which requires attention of more than one individual then coordination will provide better results.But if it's a challenging task and can be done by a single person then it should be assigned to someone who believes that there should be competition in every aspect of life.
To conlude that I would say both arguments have strong suspects.However I would prefer a balance between both situations. Because I think a moderate nature is more flexible rather than inclining on just one side.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0
You discuss both sides of the question and give a personal view: competition can motivate some people, while cooperation can help people achieve better results together. Your examples of two schoolchildren and jobs requiring teamwork are relevant. The conclusion also makes your position clear by favouring balance. However, the discussion is not equally developed: the competition paragraph mainly describes individual motivation, while the cooperation paragraph gives a little more explanation about shared work. The claim that a task should go to someone who believes in competition is also asserted rather than supported, and the distinction between competition and conflict could be clearer. Develop each view with a specific consequence or example, then explain more directly when a balance is preferable.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0
The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two views, and a conclusion. The progression from competition to cooperation and then to your balanced opinion is easy to follow. You use linking expressions such as “For instance,” “Although,” and “However” to signal relationships between ideas. At times, though, connections feel mechanical or unclear. “Well In my opinion” does not create a clear transition, and “Because their nature involves accepting challenges” is a fragment that interrupts the flow. Some references, such as “these people” and “both arguments,” could be more precise. Use fewer formulaic transitions and connect each example explicitly to the point it supports.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
You use enough vocabulary to discuss the topic, including “competing,” “collaborate,” “assist,” “coordination,” and “moderate nature.” However, spelling and word-choice errors are noticeable and sometimes make the reader pause: “beleive,” “cooperting,” “opinon,” and “intellegent” are misspelled, while “strong suspects” is an inaccurate choice for arguments. Some phrases are also unnatural, such as “mind state individually” and “outstand in their field.” These issues limit precision even though the main ideas remain understandable. Build a reliable set of topic-specific collocations and check spelling carefully; aim for natural phrases such as “individual mindset,” “excel in their field,” and “strong arguments.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentences, including conditional structures such as “if it’s a job which requires attention of more than one individual” and clauses explaining why people prefer teamwork. The overall meaning is generally clear, but some grammatical errors and punctuation problems remain. For example, “Every individual has it’s own opinion” has an agreement and possessive-form problem, and “There are few people who can do better” needs an article to express the intended meaning. “Because their nature involves accepting challenges” is a sentence fragment, while several sentences run together without appropriate spacing or punctuation. Practise accurate articles, possessives, and sentence boundaries, and review complex sentences before submitting.
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