Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-28

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)

Competition is now much popular in all over the world and some people argue that comparison is very important in every field of life either in schools or in professional job while some other people believe we must help each other rather than comparing with one another. I will discuss both views in detail and then give my own opinion.

On the one hand, some people think that comparison is good thing in our daily life. Firstly, some people said that when there is comparison on daily basis with our colleges then other person also tried his best to compete other and owned a positive reputation. For instances, one of my school fellow was not interested in studies but their parents always teasing him by comparing with their siblings that they always achieve better score after listening a lot insult he tried his best to achieve a excellent score in studies in his finals that,s why competition is better. Secondly, some people argue that by comparison in daily life improve society, they says when some people achieve positive habit by comparing himself with other well-educated persons like one person take side a stone in street then other people also do that by seeing him.

On the other hand, some people believe that cooperation with one another is better rather than comparing. To begin with, some people told that by giving positive advise to someone or giving some help if he needed is much better than only comparing because when you develop a habit of helping each other if you have opportunity then our society will also come to stable. In addition, some people says that by comparison there would be chance to breakdown in relationships people only see with the eye of comparison.

To conclude, there are different views about competition. I believe that competition is beneficial because people would achieve their goal by doing competition with each other

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You discuss both perspectives and give a clear final preference for competition, so the main parts of the prompt are present. The school-fellow story illustrates how comparison may motivate someone to study, and the example of copying a helpful action supports the idea that behaviour can spread. However, the discussion is only partly developed: the second example is about imitation rather than cooperation, and the benefits of cooperation are stated generally without a specific illustration. Your position is also more fully expressed in the conclusion than throughout the essay. To strengthen the response, explain more precisely how competition and cooperation affect people, and ensure each example directly supports the view it accompanies.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay has a recognisable structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two views, and a conclusion. Signposts such as “On the one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “To conclude” help readers follow the overall direction. Within paragraphs, however, progression is sometimes mechanical, with repeated “Firstly,” “Secondly,” and “In addition,” and some links between claims and examples are unclear. For instance, the street-stone example does not clearly connect to the point about improving society through comparison. References such as “they” and “other person” can also make it difficult to identify who is meant. Use clearer topic sentences and connect each example explicitly to the claim it supports.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some vocabulary relevant to the topic, including “competition,” “cooperation,” “positive reputation,” and “relationships,” and the reader can generally understand your main ideas. However, the range is limited by repeated use of “comparison” where the task concerns competition, and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, such as “much popular,” “professional job,” and “achieve a excellent score.” These errors sometimes make the intended meaning less clear or sound unnatural. Aim to use a wider set of precise terms for the two concepts, and check common word partnerships and forms. For example, distinguish “compete with” from “compare with,” and use natural expressions such as “highly popular” or “professional life.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and longer sentences, including clauses with “when,” “because,” and “rather than,” but control is uneven. Errors in agreement and verb forms appear in examples such as “some people said,” “other person also tried,” and “some people says.” Articles and sentence construction are also problematic in “comparison is good thing” and “by comparison in daily life improve society.” Several long sentences join multiple ideas without clear punctuation, particularly the school-fellow example, which makes the sequence harder to follow. Practise building accurate complex sentences with one main idea and clearly attached supporting clauses. Check subject–verb agreement, articles, and punctuation when editing.

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