Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-27

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)

Some individuals believe that worldwide sports events, such as Olympics or the Football World Cup, are a great way to bring countries close. Others argue that these activities create competition, not alliance. In this essay, I will discuss both these views and share my opinion.

On the one hand, when athletes attend international competitions, they can make meaningful connections. To take part in these competitions, players are required to travel to the host countries, where they can learn about their culture, rules and legistation. It builds teamwork among them and brings them together. Therefore, it improves diplomatic relationships among different nations. For exapmle, in FIFA worldcup many nations participate. It allow thier sportpersons to make new connections with the players from different countries.

On the other hand, worldwide competitons put more pressure on players to give their best performance. At an international level, players represent thier country, which puts more winning pressure on them. Sometimes they use unfair practices to win. To illustrate, in a wrestling match held between two different countries, the players of one country injected themselves with strong drug subsance to increase their physical stamina, which was not only unfair but also very injurious to their health.

In my opionion, the benefits of international sports events outweigh its drawbacks, as it improves global relationships among diffrent countries, which could leads to improved international trade and strong defence systems. However, strict regulations should be implemented to avoid the use of unfair practices to win the competitions.

In conclusion, although international sports events can sometimes result in use of illegal methods to win the competition, it can also improves mutual co-operation between diffrent countries. Proper security system can eliminate the drawbacks and maximise the benefits of these events.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response7.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.5
Lexical Resource6.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy6.0
Overall6.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views on international sports events—whether they unite nations or create competition—and provides a clear personal opinion. The writer establishes a position in the introduction and maintains it through to the conclusion. Ideas are extended and supported with relevant examples, such as mentioning FIFA and referencing a wrestling match, although the example regarding drug use is slightly generalised and anecdotal. Overall, the task response is well-developed, meeting the requirements of Band 6.5 to 7.0. Because the arguments are sufficiently explored and the prompt is fully satisfied, this fits comfortably into Band 7.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay displays a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. Paragraphing is used appropriately, with distinct introduction, body paragraphs discussing both sides, an opinion paragraph, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', 'To illustrate', and 'In conclusion' are employed to guide the reader through the text, although some transitions feel slightly mechanical. Referencing is generally clear, though minor instances of awkward linking occur, such as 'which could leads to'. These features align with the characteristics of Band 6.5, leaning towards Band 7 for effective overall paragraph structure and logical flow.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary to allow some flexibility and precision, using terms such as 'international competitions', 'diplomatic relationships', and 'regulations'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, including 'legistation' instead of 'legislation', 'Exapmle', 'worldcup', 'opionion', and 'diffrent'. Furthermore, phrases like 'injected themselves with strong drug subsance' show occasional inaccuracies in collocation and word form. Despite these errors, communication is never impeded, and the vocabulary used is adequate for the task. This performance is characteristic of Band 6.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating control over relative clauses and conditional structures, such as 'when athletes attend international competitions, they can make meaningful connections'. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement and pluralisation, such as 'such as Olympics' (missing article), 'It allow thier sportpersons' ('allow' instead of 'allows', 'thier'), and 'which could leads to' ('leads' instead of 'lead'). Punctuation is generally acceptable, but grammatical slips persist across multiple sentences, placing this response securely in the Band 6 category.

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