Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-31

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)

People have a variety of opinion about the competition at job, educational institute or in life. Some believed that it have plus point while other think that cooperation is much more important. I strongly agreed with the both opinion because cooperation may help some people and they got motivated while some people just need an excuse to avoid the work, so cooperation with these people make them steady and lazy.

At some stage of life and struggle some individuals got frustated by continuosly hardworking but do not recieved the result, the main reason was that he is following a wrong path. So, at this stage if someone guide and tell him that you worked very hard but in wrong direction, I will cooperate with you and take my time to guide you in order to follow a correct pathway. For example, if a genius students is applying to get admission in the world top university but he do not have experience so may got rejected due to the major technical mistakes in his application. But if he seek an advice from a senior students that is already admitted in that university, he may secure his admission easily under his guidance.

Consequently, the other opinion of the people is also true, because competition at workplace and at educational institute build a race among the individuals which in the result the learn more thing and get much experience. For example the competition among the school students increase their curiosity for learning more and receive prize, so this competition make students ready for future innovation.

To conclude, the competition have both postive impact in some situation like in school students while it may have bad impact on the lazy people because they avoid more struggle.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You discuss both competition and cooperation, and your examples—guidance from a senior student and competition encouraging school students to learn—are relevant to the topic. However, the position is not consistently clear: “I strongly agreed with the both opinion” appears to support both sides, while the conclusion mainly weighs their effects without clearly stating which approach you favour overall. The opening claim that cooperation can make people “steady and lazy” is also difficult to follow and is not fully explained. To strengthen the response, state a clear view on how the two approaches should be balanced, then develop each main point with a more direct explanation of its benefits or drawbacks and a specific link back to the question.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, separate paragraphs for cooperation and competition, and a conclusion. This helps the reader identify the two views. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear, and some links between ideas feel mechanical or imprecise. For instance, “Consequently, the other opinion of the people is also true” does not clearly show how the previous example leads to the discussion of competition. The first paragraph also combines several claims about motivation, excuses, cooperation, and laziness without establishing their relationship. Use clearer topic sentences and connect each example explicitly to the point it supports. A conclusion that directly synthesises both views and your own position would also make the overall progression more coherent.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some topic-related vocabulary, including “competition,” “cooperation,” “guidance,” “curiosity,” and “innovation,” and the reader can generally understand your intended meaning. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, sometimes making ideas harder to interpret. Examples include “variety of opinion,” “at job,” “receive prize,” and “follow a correct pathway.” Spelling errors such as “frustated,” “continuosly,” and “postive” also reduce accuracy. Aim to learn common academic collocations and check spelling carefully. More precise expressions would help you explain the effects of competition and cooperation without relying on repeated general terms such as “people,” “work,” and “good.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including conditional and subordinate structures, as in “if someone guide and tell him…” and “if he seek an advice…”. However, these longer constructions are often faulty, and errors in verb forms, agreement, articles, and plurals occur throughout. For example, “Some believed that it have plus point” has inconsistent tense and agreement, while “a genius students… he do not have” mixes singular and plural forms. Sentence boundaries and punctuation also need attention, particularly in the long opening sentence. Practise building accurate sentences first, then extend them with clauses. Check that each subject matches its verb and that articles and noun forms are appropriate before submitting.

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