Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-24

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)

Most of the people believe competitioon at work, school or in day-to-day life is good thing where some believe opposite but in my view i have mix opinion.

We can see now a days everywhere is competition and each person wants to go ahead of there colleague, partner, cousin or room mate etc. which i believe is right at some point because if people will have competitor then everyone will want to achieve and do better in there life but few people go beyond and do things which can hurt others. For example i remember when i was playing cricket in club i was opener batsman and there was one guy who used to bat with me and he get jealous when i score good even though he was a good batsman and in same team he starts competing with me so that coach can appreciate him too. which clearly shows people need to think where they are and is that the right place for competiton or not otherwise they will drop the performance of there own team.

Similary, At office where i am working right now there are several employee and everyone has there competitor but there understand at what point they have to compete because of maturity and experience.

To support my view, i would like to draw attention to one example which happen with me few days ago when i was working in a team on a proejct there was a guy who is more experienced then me instead of that he help me a lot and when we submited the project our manager appreciated and that guy gave all credit to me instead of taking his own Which shows cooperate and team work.

Altough, competition is good as well as bad untill people realise where they need to compete this will benefit a lot to each human being if they understand where and when it is neccessary.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You discuss both competition and cooperation and give a personal position, especially in the opening and concluding paragraphs. The cricket story illustrates how rivalry can become harmful, while the workplace project shows the value of helping a colleague. These examples are relevant, but the position is described as a “mix opinion” and remains somewhat unclear: the conclusion says competition can be good or bad without stating precisely when cooperation should take priority. The discussion of competition is more developed than the explanation of cooperation, which is mainly supported by one personal anecdote. To strengthen the response, explain the benefits and drawbacks of each view more fully, then state a clear overall judgement and connect each example directly to it.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, paragraphs about competition and cooperation, and a conclusion. The examples also help the reader follow the main points. However, progression between ideas is sometimes uneven. The paragraph beginning “Similary, At office” introduces workplace competition but does not explain its relevance in enough detail, and the next paragraph shifts to cooperation without a clear transition. Some linking phrases, such as “To support my view,” do not clearly identify which part of the argument they support. Referencing in phrases such as “there was one guy” and “that guy” is understandable but repetitive. Use topic sentences to signal each paragraph’s purpose and link the examples explicitly to the argument.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including terms such as “competitor,” “jealous,” “appreciated,” and “team work.” The personal examples make the language concrete and relevant. However, the range is limited in places, and several word-choice, spelling, and collocation errors make the writing less natural, such as “go ahead of there colleague,” “drop the performance,” and “draw attention to one example.” Repeated use of “good,” “people,” and “competition” also limits precision. Aim to use more accurate expressions for describing outcomes and relationships, and check spelling carefully. For example, “cooperation” and “competition” are useful key terms, but they need to be used consistently and in natural combinations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and longer sentences, including conditional structures such as “if people will have competitor then everyone will want to achieve.” However, complex sentences are often not controlled accurately, and errors sometimes make the reader pause. Examples include “each person wants to go ahead of there colleague,” “he get jealous,” and “he starts competing with me so that coach can appreciate him.” There are also problems with articles, agreement, verb forms, and sentence boundaries; for instance, the cricket example runs on for several clauses, while “Altough, competition is good as well as bad untill people realise…” is difficult to follow. Practise building accurate sentences with one main idea, then add subordinate clauses and check tense and agreement.

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