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)

Whether it is class room or a coporate life. there is always a debate about the having a competition or to have a cooperate work. Many people things visa versa but in my opinion compitition is very good for people to reach there maximum strength while cooprating give a good teamwork and and a key to the success.

On the other hand, competition is powerful driving force which lead you to get up from your comfort zone and pushed to your maximum.It helps to have a better leadership quality and for your own growth. For example, a student trying to win a scholarship will naturally study harder than the other students.

Similarly, in the workplace competing for a promotion leads employees to innovate and work more harder. The competition spirit lead people to have a lot of progress as they always find a way and reach to the top.

On the other hand, cooperation focus on the working together to achieve a common goals. Advocates for teamwork argue that a life does not always have to be a race where one person's win means another loss. When we do teamwork we share ideas, divide heavy workload supports eachother in challlenges. For example, take a scientific research where all the medicines and vaccines are not made by the one person it was done by the different scientist and this only happens by the cooperating nature and enviroment.

you cannot have competition in this.

In conclusion, for a personal growth competition is a key to lot of progress and to get out from the comfort zone. Whereas, the focus is a bigger tasks or a common goals cooparating there is a key to achieve and fulfill goals which leads to success.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both sides of the discussion and give a clear overall view: competition can support personal progress, while cooperation is preferable for shared goals. The examples of a student seeking a scholarship, employees competing for promotion, and scientists developing medicines make the ideas relevant. This fits the task well, although the two positions are not developed equally in depth. The benefits of competition are explained through motivation and innovation, whereas the cooperation paragraph lists sharing ideas and dividing work but gives less explanation of how these lead to better outcomes. The claim that competition cannot exist in scientific research is also too absolute. To strengthen the response, explain the limits or risks of competition and clarify when cooperation is most effective.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two views, and a conclusion. This gives the reader a basic route through the discussion. However, progression within and between paragraphs is uneven, and linking is sometimes mechanical or unclear. Both main paragraphs begin with “On the other hand,” even though the first introduces competition rather than contrasting with a preceding point. The sentence “you cannot have competition in this” is detached from the example and does not clearly connect to the argument. Some ideas are also joined in long, loosely connected sentences. Use more precise transitions, make each paragraph develop one central point in sequence, and connect examples explicitly to the claim they support.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of vocabulary, including “comfort zone,” “leadership quality,” “common goals,” “workload,” and “innovate,” which helps communicate the main ideas. There are also attempts at topic-specific phrasing, such as “competition spirit” and “cooperating nature.” However, inaccurate word forms, spelling, and collocations are noticeable and sometimes make the writing less natural: “coporate,” “compitition,” “cooperating work,” and “competition spirit” are examples. Some expressions are also vague, such as “a lot of progress” and “reach to the top.” Aim for accurate, natural combinations and check spelling carefully. More precise wording would help distinguish individual achievement from collective success.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a relative clause in “a student trying to win a scholarship will naturally study harder” and a contrast between personal and shared goals in the conclusion. However, control is inconsistent, and errors in sentence boundaries, agreement, articles, and verb forms sometimes make the reader pause. For example, “there is always a debate about the having” has an awkward grammatical construction, while “competition is powerful driving force which lead you” has article and agreement problems. The opening fragment, “Whether it is class room or a coporate life,” is not joined correctly to the next sentence. Practise building complete sentences and checking subject–verb agreement, articles, and punctuation, while retaining your attempts at complex structures.

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