Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

Both veiws can be appropriate in a point of veiw of each individual, I Believe that competitions are one of the great source to encourage students to improve their academic performance, there are several example i remember from my school life there use to be two toppers in our class who use to compete each other in every subject and interestingly they both were incredible in studies,and i think if there was no competition for that one topper he had not worked that hard to get enough marks in a particular subject, i see competition as a goal for an individual goal of victory against that particular competitor, goal has to be getting more marks than your opponent. And our school used to be organnise spelling bee contest in our school un which the students of same class were in competition with each other, and it was really a display of the excellence of students in terms of being good at sepllings. Overall, i think competition is a great source of imrpoving student's overall academic performance.

On the other side, some people believe that we should try to cooperate more rather than competing against each other. I believe it can be true sometimes because at my school i noticed some individuals were taking an academic competition very seriously and personally which was affecting the relationshop between students and spreading negativity between them. Additionally, I saw a fight beetween two students as well who were fighting over a miss judgement of that one student was copying the paper of another, even he was not and that happens because of extreme competition between those two students about who was going to get good marks, although students sometimes think that losing a competition might affect negatively to their personality but this not what they should think. They should keep competition as fun, and once tec competition is our they should live as good friends

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You discuss both competition and cooperation and give a clear preference for competition, supported by examples from school, including the two high-performing classmates and the spelling-bee contest. You also explain a drawback: intense rivalry can damage relationships and lead to conflict. However, the response mainly develops competition, while cooperation receives less explanation; the final point about remaining friends after a contest is brief and does not show clearly how cooperation benefits people. Your position is present, but it could be stated more consistently and linked to a fuller comparison of the two views. Develop the cooperation argument with a specific example and explain when collaboration may achieve better results than rivalry. The response is relevant to the task, but its ideas remain limited and unevenly developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has two identifiable sections: one supporting competition and another considering cooperation, and phrases such as “On the other side” help signal the shift. The examples generally follow the point they are intended to support. However, the first section is a very long sentence chain, making the progression difficult to follow and obscuring the relationship between claims and examples. Some links are repetitive or unclear, including repeated references to “competition” and the transition from the spelling bee to the overall conclusion. The ending also feels abrupt. Use clearer paragraphing and divide long sequences into focused sentences; then use precise links to show contrast, cause and result. This would make the overall organisation easier to follow and reduce reliance on mechanical transitions.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use vocabulary relevant to the topic, including “academic performance,” “competitor,” “negativity,” and “personality,” and the school examples give you opportunities to express specific ideas. However, the range is limited and several word-choice, collocation and spelling errors are noticeable. Examples include “a great source to encourage,” “compete each other,” “miss judgement,” and misspellings such as “veiws,” “organnise,” and “sepllings.” These errors sometimes make the reader pause to interpret the intended meaning. Aim for accurate, natural combinations such as “a source of motivation” and “compete with each other,” and proofread carefully for spelling. More precise vocabulary for cooperation and its benefits would also help you compare the views more fully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt to express reasons and contrast through longer sentences, using forms such as “because” and “although,” but these complex attempts are often difficult to control. The opening is a run-on sentence, with several independent ideas joined by commas, and the sentence beginning “Additionally, I saw a fight” also contains an unclear, overloaded structure. There are frequent errors in verb forms and sentence construction, for example “there use to be” and “they both were incredible in studies,” as well as missing or incorrect articles and agreement in phrases such as “one of the great source.” These problems can make meaning harder to follow. Practise building accurate simple sentences first, then combine them with controlled clauses and check punctuation, agreement and verb forms.

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