Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-11-13

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people believe that international sports events, such as The Olympics or the Football World Cup, are a good way to bring countries together. Others say that these events create competition, not friendship, between countries.

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)

There is no doubt sport plays an important role in our lives.Some people say that sports events are a good way to bring countries together, While others think that these sports events create compitition, not friendship between countries.I will discuss both these views along with my opinion in the following paragraphs.

To begin with, there are several reasons why people believe these sports are best way to enhance our relationship with other countries. First and foremost, In international sport events people meet from different countries. In this way, athletes develop friendship and respect each other. People can learn about different cultures and traditions.Moreover, sports promote teamwork and unity. Countries can share happiness and celebrate success together.For example, during the olympics, athletes participate from many countries and show respect with each other.

On the other hand, some reasons why people say sports events creat competition. Firstly, countries compete with each other to win medals and trophies. Sometimes players feel pressure to win the compitition. Further more, some people become aggressive after losing a match. Political disagreements can affect sporting events. For instance, during the football world cup, supporters sometimes argue because they strongly support their national teams.

I believe international sportsevents have more positive effects. Healthy compitition motivates athletes to improve their skills. These events encourage friendship and cultural understanding.

To conclude, both views have reasonable arguments. Although there are some negatives of organising international sports, but we cannot ignored the benefits of participating in sports events internationally. Sports events can create compitition, they also build friendship.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You discuss both views and state a clear opinion: international events can encourage friendship, while your conclusion recognises that they also create competition. Relevant examples include athletes meeting and supporters arguing over national teams. However, several points remain general or are only briefly explained; for instance, you mention that countries “share happiness” without showing how this builds lasting relationships, and the example of supporters arguing does not fully explain how competition damages relations between countries. The response is also 2 words below the 250-word minimum; the 8 words copied from the task prompt were not counted. Develop each main point with a clearer explanation or a more specific example, and ensure the response meets the required length.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two views, your opinion, and a conclusion. Sequencing phrases such as “To begin with,” “On the other hand,” and “To conclude” make the progression easy to follow. This meets the lower-band expectation of coherent organisation and shows some flexibility in linking ideas. However, transitions are sometimes mechanical, with “First and foremost,” “Moreover,” and “Further more” doing much of the linking, while connections between individual claims are not always fully explained. The conclusion also repeats the contrast rather than drawing the discussion together, and “Although … but” creates an awkward link. Use a wider range of natural connections and make the relationship between each example and its point explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “athletes,” “medals and trophies,” “cultural understanding,” and “political disagreements.” There are also some useful phrases, such as “healthy competition” and “teamwork and unity.” However, the range is limited and several noticeable spelling, word-form, and collocation errors reduce precision: “compitition” is repeatedly misspelled, “sportsevents” is run together, and “show respect with each other” is not a natural expression. Repetition of “sports events,” “countries,” and “competition” also limits flexibility. Aim to use accurate topic-specific alternatives and check spelling carefully; for example, you could refer to “international tournaments,” “host nations,” or “rivalry” where appropriate.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mixture of simple statements and longer structures, including “Although there are some negatives …” and sentences beginning with “why.” The main message is generally understandable, but the range is limited and errors occur often enough to affect accuracy. Examples include the missing space after “lives.”, the capitalisation of “While” mid-sentence, “these sports are best way” without an article, and “we cannot ignored” instead of a correctly formed verb after “cannot.” The final sentence also joins two independent ideas with a comma. Practise accurate articles, verb forms, sentence boundaries, and punctuation, then use a few controlled complex sentences to express cause and contrast.

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