Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-21

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 6.0)

Many people beleive that competition with their peers at workplace or school may create some extra pressure on them which in turn helps them to perform well. While others beleive that, always competing with each other can create negative environment in workplace and the harmony between people get disrupted.As far as I am concerned, we should take motivation from other people's success stories and try to follow them rather than competiting with each other.

Some people always want to compare their performences with others with an intention of not lagging behind at their sectors. It can be sometimes helpful to boost their performences and keep them motivated. A healthy competition can minimize distractions in workplace and improve time management. For example, school going students are often rewarded for ranking at the top of the class, which further motivate them to study hard. In addition, in workplace top performers get promoted fast compared to others which inspire people to perform well.

On the other hand, too much competition is sometimes responsible for destroying the good relationship among co-workers and classmates. The urge to perform best sometimes influence people to forget empathy and in turn people become selfish. People don't want to help each other to grow when they are competiting against each other, which in turn affect the collective performenece of a group. To my understanding, if we try to learn good qualities from successful people without an intention of surpassing them, our society will be more benifited. If each and everyone of a group help each other, the overall success stories will be created without affecting the peace between them.

To conclude, healthy competition between people in daily life can be encouraged as long as it is not affecting the relationship between them. We can only grow as long as we are united and kind to each other.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You address both views and give a clear personal position: you explain how competition can motivate students and employees, then argue that cooperation and learning from others’ success are preferable to rivalry. The examples of classroom rewards and workplace promotion make the discussion relevant. This meets the task well, but the development is uneven: the benefits of competition are supported with concrete examples, while the case for cooperation relies more on general claims about empathy, group performance and social harmony. Your conclusion also introduces a qualification—that healthy competition is acceptable if relationships are protected—which could be reconciled more explicitly with your earlier preference for cooperation. Develop that distinction and explain how cooperation can work alongside fair competition.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two views, and a conclusion. Topic sentences such as “On the other hand” help readers follow the shift in argument, and examples are generally placed beside the points they support. The progression is coherent, though some linking is mechanical and a few connections are not fully clear. For instance, “To my understanding” shifts from discussing the drawbacks of competition to your preferred approach without clearly signalling how this supports the paragraph’s main point. The conclusion’s acceptance of healthy competition could also be linked more directly to your stated preference for cooperation. Use referencing and transitions more precisely, and make each paragraph’s central argument explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use vocabulary relevant to the topic, including “healthy competition,” “empathy,” “time management” and “collective performance,” and your meaning is generally understandable. There are also attempts at less common expressions, such as “lagging behind” and “surpassing them.” However, spelling and word-choice errors are noticeable, including “beleive,” “performences,” “competiting,” “benifited” and “performenece.” Some combinations are also unnatural: “the harmony between people get disrupted” and “the overall success stories will be created” do not express the ideas idiomatically. These issues limit precision even when the reader can infer your meaning. Check spelling carefully and learn common collocations for discussing workplace relationships, achievement and cooperation.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex forms, including subordinate clauses with “which” and conditional structures such as “if we try to learn.” Most ideas remain clear, and the response shows an effort to vary sentence patterns. Some grammatical errors persist, however. In “the harmony between people get disrupted,” the verb does not agree with the singular subject; “which further motivate them” also needs agreement with its subject. The sentence beginning “The urge to perform best” has a singular subject followed by “influence,” and “if each and everyone of a group help” has a similar agreement problem. There are also punctuation issues, such as the missing space after “disrupted.” Review subject–verb agreement and proofread sentence boundaries while continuing to use complex structures.

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