Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-11-01

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 5.0)

Some people argue that competition at work, at school and in daily life is a good thing. while others believe that we should try to cooperate more, rather than competing against each other.

Having competiton among our friends and colleague is a efficient path for development. Nevertheless, we should not have jealousy among eachother. A healthy competition with our colleague and friends improve ourself. It will let us understand our weakness and let us know the thing we should change and the techniques we should understand. For our growth and improvement, competition is significant.

In contrast, some people think that coopertion among people around them is a good thing. I think it is also a good behaviour, in addition we can understand and learn more things from other people. We will learn more about the teamwork and partnership. But we may fail to learn something, when someone taking charge of it. we will never understand our weakness and strength.

From my perspective, being in a healthy competition with our surrounds will improve ourself effectively. Let me give a example from my own experience, when i was studying 10th standard, i used to do group studies, my scores were avarage. Then i wanted to know the mistake i did, so i compared my mistakes with my friend, who was the topper of the class. Then i have changed faults, even i had a healthy competition with my friend and then i got good marks. So i think the healthy competition without jealousy can improve yoursels and your life.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You discuss both competition and cooperation and give a clear preference for healthy competition, supported by your school experience comparing your work with a high-achieving friend. However, the discussion is only partial: cooperation is described briefly, and its possible benefits and drawbacks are not developed with a specific example. Several points about competition repeat the idea that it helps people identify weaknesses, rather than extending the argument. The response contains 228 words, below the 250-word minimum; the 29 words copied from the task prompt are not counted. Develop both views more fully and add relevant explanation or examples to meet the task requirements.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a recognisable structure, with separate paragraphs for competition, cooperation, and your opinion, and transitions such as “Nevertheless” and “In contrast” help signal changes in focus. However, progression within paragraphs is limited: several sentences repeat that competition reveals weaknesses or supports improvement, while the cooperation paragraph moves quickly from teamwork to a possible disadvantage without explaining the connection. Some linking is also awkward or unclear, as in “But we may fail to learn something, when someone taking charge of it.” The conclusion restates the preference but does not bring the two views together. Use clearer links between claims and explanations, and organise each paragraph around a developed main point.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use a relevant range of topic vocabulary, including “healthy competition,” “teamwork,” “partnership,” and “weakness,” so the main ideas are generally understandable. However, the range is limited and several word-choice, collocation, word-form, and spelling errors are noticeable. Examples include “competiton,” “coopertion,” “a efficient path,” and “improve ourself”; these reduce accuracy and sometimes make the phrasing difficult to follow. Some expressions are also imprecise, such as “the techniques we should understand” and “with our surrounds.” Build a more accurate set of phrases for discussing personal development and collaboration, and check spelling and word forms carefully when proofreading.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt some longer structures, including “when I was studying 10th standard” and the sentence explaining how you compared your mistakes with your friend. However, the range is limited, and errors occur frequently in sentence structure, agreement, articles, and punctuation. For example, “A healthy competition … improve” has a subject–verb agreement problem, while “when someone taking charge of it” is missing a finite verb. The opening also incorrectly joins a new sentence with lowercase “while,” and “Then I have changed faults” uses an unsuitable tense construction. Practise building accurate simple sentences first, then add subordinate clauses, checking verb forms, articles, and sentence boundaries.

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