Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-16

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)

Some people believes that international games such as olympics or Football World Cup plays crucial role to bring different countries together. However, others argue that it creates more competition or comples relations between countries. In my opinion, I strongly believe that interenational sports are good way to bring different counties on same plateform.

On the one hand, supporters argue that international games provide vital role in the economic development of country. Many overseas players visit from different countries for their performance which attract locals to enjoy it. People got excited and they buy tickets to watch live sports events. Not only local country people but also, overseas tourism got attract and they travel and spend their expenses in that country on such as food, restaurants, accomodation or entertainment.

On the other hand, opponents believes that organized big sport event can cause competition between countries because some countries may be capable for arranging it financially but some poor economic level countries cannot spend money for those events.It can create burden on local government which can lead bad reputation of event country infront of other countries.Due to this, some countries could loss their good image on worldwide. In addition, they believe that the first priority should be fulfill the basic needs of locals before arranging those big events. They said, government should focus more on education or health services rather than sport events.

In conclusion, even creating high level sports events are challenging for some countries or it can create complex relationship between different countries, I believe that, organised big sport events play crucial role in organized country growth and development.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views—that sports bring countries together and that they create competition and financial burdens—and provides a clear personal opinion in the introduction and conclusion. However, the development of ideas in the body paragraphs drifts somewhat from the prompt. For instance, the first body paragraph shifts the focus slightly onto economic development through tourism rather than strictly addressing how sports unite nations. Similarly, the second body paragraph discusses the financial burden on poor countries and government priorities like education and health. While these are relevant economic arguments regarding hosting events, they are only tangentially related to the core theme of international competition versus friendship. Ideas are presented and supported with examples, but they would benefit from deeper extension and closer alignment with the prompt. Overall, the response meets the requirements for Band 6.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into four distinct paragraphs, following a logical overall structure with an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Transitional markers such as On the one hand, On the other hand, and In conclusion are employed to guide the reader through the text, although they are at times mechanical. Cohesion within sentences is occasionally faulty, such as in the phrase 'Not only local country people but also, overseas tourism got attract,' where referencing and pronoun agreement lack precision. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct arguments, but the logical progression within the body paragraphs occasionally feels disjointed due to abrupt shifts in ideas. While the overall arrangement is coherent enough to follow the writer's line of thought, the mechanical use of cohesive devices and occasional referencing errors place this response solidly in the Band 6 category.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common lexical items such as 'economic development,' 'financial burden,' and 'reputation.' However, there are frequent word choice and collocation errors throughout the response. Examples include 'Some people believes' (subject-verb agreement), 'tourism got attract' (incorrect passive voice construction), 'spend their expenses,' 'event country,' and 'could loss their good image.' Spelling and word formation mistakes are also present, such as 'interenational,' 'accomodation,' 'organised' versus 'organized,' and 'fulfill.' These lexical inaccuracies and awkward phrasings restrict the vocabulary score, as they occasionally impede smooth reading, though meaning remains generally clear. This performance aligns with the Band 5 descriptors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional ideas, such as 'Some people believes that international games... plays crucial role' and 'opponents believes that organized big sport event can cause competition.' However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors occurring in almost every sentence. Notable errors include subject-verb agreement issues ('Some people believes,' 'opponents believes'), missing articles ('economic development of country,' 'infront of other countries'), incorrect verb forms ('should be fulfill'), and tense/voice inconsistencies ('tourism got attract'). Punctuation is also problematic in places, with unnecessary commas disrupting sentence flow. Because frequent errors persist and simple structures dominate despite attempts at complexity, the grammar is best classified at Band 5.

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