Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-11-02

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)

Opinions are divided weather competitive mindset or a cooperative mindset is better. competition at work, school and in daily life is a good thing. on the contrary some people think that we should cooperate more, rather than competing against each other. Both views are great on there on ways, but sometimes in life there are situations were competing is necessary to improve ourselves. There are also some situations that we need to cooperate more rather than competing against each other.

On one hand, if someone needs to improve their life or wants to learn something they definitely needs to be competitive. If someone is lazy they can not push their limits but if a person if challenging, they can easily push their limits. If I say about myself, I am a football player so to improve myself I need to practice daily to perform good in the match . I have to train daily to be better than yesterday and this competitive mindset helped me to push my limits, to be better than I was yesterday. currently I am the best striker in my entire team.

On the other hand, being Cooperate is also necessary because as I said that I am a football player and I am also a great striker but it does not matter. The football is a team sport so if I can not communicate with my teammates I will eventually lose the game. It does not matter how great you are. Sometimes there are times that people's need to be more cooperative because human civilization has advanced through effort- like being nice with the people whom are with as every where, being social with them, those can be in our office or in schools or even our society.

In conclusion competition is needed to improve yourselves, to become the best version and being cooperate creates a healthy lifestyle with others, Both are necessary in ones life.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.0
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.0

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You discuss both competition and cooperation and give a personal view that both have a place, supported by your football experience. The examples of training to improve and communicating with teammates are relevant to the question. However, the discussion remains limited: the benefits of competition are mostly framed as personal improvement, while cooperation is illustrated mainly through team sport and a broad statement about civilization. Your position is present, especially in the conclusion, but it could be clearer and more consistently explained across the essay. Develop each view with a fuller reason and a specific example, and explain when cooperation may be more valuable than competition. This would make the response address the task more fully and develop its ideas beyond the current, somewhat general treatment.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two views, and a conclusion. The signposts “On one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “In conclusion” help readers identify the stages of the discussion. However, progression within paragraphs is uneven, and some ideas are joined without a clear logical link. For example, the move from being a good striker to the broad claim that civilization advances through effort is abrupt. Repeated references to being a football player also make the development feel circular. Use clearer topic sentences, group related points, and explain how each example supports the paragraph’s main idea. More precise referencing and fewer repeated transitions would make the organisation easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “competitive mindset,” “push my limits,” “teammates,” and “team sport.” These phrases help make the personal examples relevant. However, the range is limited and several word choices or forms are inaccurate or unnatural, such as “being Cooperate,” “if a person if challenging,” and “perform good.” Repetition of “competitive,” “cooperate,” and “better” also restricts precision. Aim to use a wider set of accurate expressions for the effects of each approach, such as “strive to improve,” “work collaboratively,” or “shared goals.” Check spelling and word forms carefully, since errors such as “weather” for “whether” can distract the reader even when the intended meaning is recoverable.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mixture of simple and longer sentences, including conditional structures such as “if I can not communicate with my teammates I will eventually lose the game.” This shows an effort to express relationships between ideas. However, complex sentences are often faulty, and errors occur frequently enough to make some passages difficult to read. Examples include “they definitely needs,” “if a person if challenging,” and “people's need to be more cooperative.” Sentence boundaries and punctuation are also inconsistent, as in the opening, where several sentences begin with lowercase letters, and in the long sentence beginning “Sometimes there are times.” Practise subject–verb agreement, clause construction, and sentence punctuation. Breaking overloaded sentences into shorter, complete units would improve control and clarity.

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