Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-22

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)

Some people believe that competition at work places, at schools and in daily life is good thing,while others argue that we should try to help each other rather than competing against each other. In this esssay we will discuss both views.

Let's start with competition, many people in today world are trying to make themselves better and more disciplined than others. Comparing with others

make themselves better and organized. Furthermore, most of people in offices trying to act professional to get pormotions and want increament by making themselves better than other employees. For instance, if a person want to acheive their goals and want to get a desire job they need to beat their competitior and push themselves on the top where they can easily achieve anything. Although, comparison is good for achiving tasks, cooperation is also essential part of daily life to solve problems and get success.

on the other hand, getting engagged and helping each others is also necessary. Helping each others at work places, schools and in daily life make everyone life easy and make good relation with others. For example

if workers or students have good connection and coopearte with each others, it help them to fix their issues and even help to compelete their task before deadlines. Another example is that, positive connection with individuals allow to share ideas and though

To sum up, even though comparison is necessary it makes people serious about their tasks and make them curious to get successful by comparing with others, cooperation is also essentail in daily life to get connect with everyone to share ideas and acheives common goals.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both sides of the question: competition is linked to personal improvement and promotion, while cooperation is presented as a way to solve problems and share ideas. Your final sentence also indicates that you value both, which gives the response a general position. However, the discussion is only partly developed. The competition example focuses on beating rivals to achieve personal goals, and the cooperation example mentions completing tasks before deadlines, but neither is explained in much detail. The second supporting example is cut off at “share ideas and though,” leaving that point incomplete. State your own view more directly and explain why you believe cooperation, competition, or a balance of both is preferable.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, separate discussion of competition and cooperation, and a concluding summary. Transitions such as “Furthermore,” “on the other hand,” and “To sum up” help signal the direction of the discussion. However, progression within paragraphs is uneven: the competition paragraph moves from self-improvement to promotions and then to achieving goals without clearly connecting each point. The cooperation paragraph ends abruptly, so its final idea is not completed. Some linking is mechanical, and the opening phrase “Let's start with competition” is less suitable for a formal essay. Use clearer topic sentences, develop one main idea at a time, and ensure each paragraph reaches a complete point before moving on.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “disciplined,” “promotions,” “cooperate,” “share ideas,” and “common goals.” These choices make the main subject understandable. However, the range is limited and several word-choice, collocation, and spelling problems reduce precision: “get a desire job,” “get increament,” “beat their competitior,” and “positive connection with individuals” are not natural or accurate expressions. Repetition of “better,” “each others,” and “daily life” also limits flexibility. Check spelling carefully and learn common word partnerships, such as “earn a promotion” and “achieve a goal.” More precise vocabulary would help distinguish healthy competition from cooperation more clearly.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more extended sentence forms, including a contrast with “Although” and conditional examples beginning “if.” However, complex sentences are often faulty, and frequent errors affect clarity. For example, “Comparing with others make themselves better” has an unclear subject and incorrect agreement, while “if a person want” and “it help them” have subject–verb agreement errors. Articles and plurals are also inconsistent, as in “is good thing” and “each others.” Punctuation needs attention: the opening sentence runs into “while,” and “on the other hand” begins with a lowercase letter after a paragraph break. Practise accurate sentence patterns and check agreement, articles, and sentence boundaries during revision.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.