Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-11-04

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)

Some individuals take competition as a positive thing at workplaces, at school and in daily life as well. Others believe that the cooperation is more important than competing with each other. Both views are worth thinking and I'll cover these both ways of human interactions in this essay.

Firstly, some people think that competition is a vital part of our daily routine. If you are working at your worplace or studying at the school, competition is everywhere in our life. Individuals take it as a positive way to be succeed in their tasks or challenges. They think if they are sompeting with someone, it means they have to be better from others. For instance, a student in a class is unwillingly competing to every other student of his/her class to get better grades or to satisfy his/her parents.

Secondly, there are some individuals who think that cooprating with each other in their tasks, projects, or in daily life is more beneficial than competition. For them, competition is not the good thing to do. You have to cooperate with your friends, coleagues, or family members. For example, the employers have to cooperate with each other to achieve the goals of the organization.

In my opinion, competition is not a worse thing to do but cooperating with each other at workplace, at school and in our daily life gives us a positive and beneficial way of living in the society. When you are cooperating with someone, it is as you are connected to them and it is a good thing to be like that. Connection is cruicial for our daily life.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You discuss both competition and cooperation and state a preference for cooperation, so the main parts of the prompt are present. However, the position is not fully clear: “competition is not a worse thing” acknowledges its value, but the essay does not explain when competition is useful or how it compares with cooperation. The supporting ideas are also limited. The student example describes pressure to get better grades, but does not explain whether this improves learning; the workplace example simply says colleagues cooperate to meet organisational goals. Develop each view with a reason and a consequence, then make your own judgement explicit and consistent in the conclusion.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a coherent overall arrangement: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two views, and a concluding paragraph with your opinion. Signposts such as “Firstly” and “Secondly” help readers follow this structure. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes mechanical, and some links between ideas are unclear. For example, “For them, competition is not the good thing to do” repeats the preceding point rather than developing it, while “When you are cooperating with someone, it is as you are connected to them” does not clearly explain the connection. Use linking phrases to show cause, contrast, or result, and make pronouns and references precise so each sentence advances the argument.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “competition,” “cooperating,” “tasks,” “projects,” and “achieve the goals.” However, the range is limited and several noticeable spelling or word-choice errors reduce precision. Examples include “worplace,” “sompeting,” “cooprating,” “coleagues,” and “cruicial.” Some phrases are also unnatural, such as “be better from others” and “a positive way to be succeed.” Build a more accurate range of collocations for discussing benefits and drawbacks, and proofread spelling carefully. More precise wording would help distinguish healthy competition from cooperation rather than relying on repeated general terms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including conditional structures such as “If you are working … competition is everywhere” and a relative clause in “a student … who is unwillingly competing.” Meaning is generally understandable, but errors in sentence construction and grammatical forms remain. For example, “Both views are worth thinking” needs a different construction, and “it is as you are connected to them” is not grammatically well formed. There are also problems with articles and patterns, as in “at the school” and “competing to every other student.” Practise accurate verb patterns and prepositions, and check each sentence for a complete, natural structure.

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