Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

Nowadays, some people argue that competition at work and school in daily life is good but other believe that cooperate more important than competing against each other. I believe that competition are more important to encourage students or workers but cooperate is also important for better understanding.

On the one hand, Some people debate that competition is important for student growth. However, competition motivate the people to work hard and improve their performance. When students compete for high marks, they spend more time on study and work hard to achieve excellent marks. Similarly, competition between employee can encourage them to be more productive and obtain their professional goal. For example, a student want to achieve high marks in class, he may more attention and also prepare exam very carefully.

On the other hand, Other believe that cooperate important than competition because it allows to people to share knowledge with each other and fulfil their goals. When individuals work together, it help them to learn more skills and they can benefit for each other's strength. Therefore, if employee work together as a team, they can solve any problem easily without an hesitation. For instance, in a hospital, doctors, nurse and medical staff cooperate with each other to provide effective treatment to the patient. If they compete each other, they can not provide suitable treatment to patient.

I would argue that competition is important for the better growth of individuals but cooperate with each is also essential for better understanding because most achievement gain by teamwork.

In conclusion, competition can increase motivation and improve individuals performance. Whereas, cooperation promote teamwork and also help people to achieve shared objective. I fairly believe that both are necessary

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You discuss both sides of the question and state a clear overall view: competition can motivate individuals, while cooperation is also essential. The examples about students aiming for high marks and hospital staff working together are relevant and help explain your points. This meets the task, although the two views are not developed equally in depth. The competition paragraph explains motivation and productivity, but the example mostly repeats the point about studying hard. The cooperation paragraph gives a clearer practical illustration, yet the final opinion that “most achievement gain by teamwork” is asserted rather than explained. To strengthen the response, develop the consequences of each approach and clarify how you think competition and cooperation can complement one another.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a coherent overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two views, your opinion, and a conclusion. Signposting such as “On the one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “In conclusion” makes the progression easy to follow. However, some connections are mechanical or unclear. For example, “However” does not clearly contrast with the preceding claim that competition supports student growth, and “Whereas” creates a fragment-like transition in the conclusion. The opinion is also repeated in both the introduction and a separate paragraph without adding much development. Use linking words according to the precise relationship between ideas, and make references such as “it” and “they” unambiguous. Combining the opinion with a developed comparison could improve the flow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “competition,” “productive,” “share knowledge,” “teamwork,” and “shared objective.” Some choices show an attempt to express more specific concepts, such as “professional goal” and “effective treatment.” However, inaccurate word forms and collocations recur and sometimes make the writing less natural: “cooperate more important,” “benefit for each other’s strength,” and “compete each other” are examples. There is also repetition of “important,” “work hard,” and “achieve.” Build a more precise range of phrases for motivation, collaboration, and outcomes, and check whether verbs and nouns naturally combine. This would make your meaning clearer and more fluent without changing your relevant ideas.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including conditional structures such as “If employee work together as a team, they can solve any problem.” The overall meaning is generally understandable, but errors in agreement, verb forms, articles, and sentence construction occur across the response. Examples include “competition are,” “competition motivate,” “it help them,” and “a student want”; these subjects require matching verb forms. Some sentences also omit necessary grammatical elements, as in “cooperate important than competition” and “he may more attention.” Practise checking each sentence for a clear subject and finite verb, then review singular and plural agreement and article use. More accurate control of these patterns, alongside your attempts at longer sentences, would improve readability.

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