Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-18

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 6.5)

A section of society believes that, international sports events are a good way to bring all players together from overseas to play in teams. However, others argue that sports events only lead to competitions and conflicts between players. This essay is an attempt to address both opinions and I strongly agree that games are meant to bring all the people together.

On the one hand, sports events which are held at a international level help people to make new friends. When players visit other countries to participate in games, they meet several people and become friends. For instance, Sania Mirza Indian badmintion player married a Pakistani player which makes a bond stronger between both the countries. Moreover, people also come across learning various languages and culture of different countries. People try to speak the local language of the specified country in which the competition is being organised. This presents the respectful friendly behaviour of people towards strangers. Thus, it makes the emotional bond between the players stronger.

On the one hand, despite these advantages some people believe that there could be heated arguments between players because of international games. Some players are impatient and they never accept the loss agianst another country. In this case verbal altercations sometimes leads to physical fights on sports field. Consequently, the people who are watching live games or on TV , they start disliking players from otehr countries. Furthermore, people might use nasty tricks to win the competition. Sometimes players play games in a unhealthy way such as betting and consumption of drugs to increase physical strength. As a result, this will weaken the relationship between countries and they may also ban the player from participating in international competitions.

To conclude, although there are several drawbacks of global sports competitions in terms of arising of disputes between countries and playing in an unnatural way. However, in my opinion if games are played in an organized way it will make the relationship between the countries vigorous. Thus, people would come to learn the value of playing in teams.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views on international sports events (bringing countries together versus creating competition) and clearly states a personal opinion in the introduction. The ideas are generally relevant and supported with examples, such as mentioning cultural exchange and a specific real-world instance of marriage between athletes from different countries. However, some arguments lack deep elaboration and border on generalisation, particularly in the discussion of negative aspects such as doping and verbal altercations, which are introduced somewhat abruptly. Nevertheless, the main tenets of the prompt are satisfactorily covered, fitting the criteria for Band 6.5 to 7.0. Given the clear positioning and adequate development across the body paragraphs, a Band 7.0 is well supported.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay displays a clear logical organisation with a traditional four-paragraph structure. The introduction outlines the topic and writer's stance, followed by two body paragraphs addressing opposing views and a conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand', 'Moreover', and 'To conclude' are employed to guide the reader through the text. However, there is a notable cohesive error in the second body paragraph where the writer repeats 'On the one hand' instead of using 'On the other hand' to introduce the opposing view. Additionally, referencing is occasionally imprecise, such as 'the people who are watching live games or on TV , they start disliking'. Paragraphing is sufficient, but transitional control suffers from minor mechanical slips, placing this criterion solidly at Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common lexical items such as 'altercations', 'vigorous', and 'international competitions'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, including 'badmintion' instead of 'badminton', 'otehr' instead of 'other', and 'unhealthy way' instead of 'unfair manner' or 'illicit ways'. Collocations are occasionally unnatural, such as 'arising of disputes' or 'making a bond stronger'. While communication is never impeded, these inaccuracies and spelling slips prevent the score from reaching the higher bands, aligning best with a Band 6.0 descriptor.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, demonstrating some control over grammar. Examples of complex sentences include 'When players visit other countries to participate in games, they meet several people and become friends.' However, the text contains frequent grammatical errors and punctuation issues, such as comma splices ('Consequently, the people who are watching live games or on TV , they start disliking...') and fragment-like structures or sentence boundary issues in the conclusion ('However, in my opinion if games are played... it will make...'). Furthermore, minor tense and article inconsistencies appear throughout. Because these errors occur regularly alongside a mixture of correct complex forms without completely obscuring meaning, a Band 6.0 is appropriate.

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