Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-29
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 5.0)
Opinions differ as to whether sports such as the World Cup and Olympics can be an effective way to bring countries together or may create conflicts between countries. In my opinion, although it helps people to understand sports culture and strategies, it pushes players to compete and build rivalry.
Proponents of the former statement point out that sports events are an integral part of each nation. To elaborate, there are a significant number of organizations that arrange sports events worldwide. This may help distinct nations to build strong connections among international sports clubs. For instance, various students may take part in different games at international level, where they learn about their cultures, traditions, and so on. Moreover, if players of two different nations take part in the same sports competitions, they may learn effective strategies about the games. For instance, participants may understand how to play with a team. As a result, they may win the game by adapting strategies.
Nevertheless, I would argue that it has some disadvantages. One of the disadvantages is that, may create conflicts between the countries. To explain, players may try to compete with each other to win the game, may follow inappropriate methods to achieve victory.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0
The response discusses both views regarding international sports events, but the analysis is severely underdeveloped and abrupt, terminating mid-sentence. Crucially, the length requirement of at least 250 words is not met, as the student's response contains only 202 words. This substantial shortfall directly restricts the development of the ideas and the student's personal opinion. While the essay attempts to address the prompt by mentioning cultural understanding, strategy sharing, and the potential for rivalry and conflict, these points remain superficial and lack sufficient supporting evidence or logical extension. For example, the final paragraph breaks off abruptly with grammatical errors (‘One of the disadvantages is that, may create conflicts...’), leaving the main arguments incomplete. Because the task has not been fully completed due to length and under-development, this criterion cannot exceed Band 5.0.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0
The essay demonstrates a basic structural framework with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion attempt. Ideas have some underlying organisation, transitioning from cultural benefits to potential drawbacks. However, coherence is heavily hindered by the unfinished nature of the final paragraph and mechanical transitions like ‘To elaborate’ and ‘To explain’, which are used repetitively without establishing smooth logical progression. Paragraphing is attempted, but the final body section is truncated and inadequate. Furthermore, referencing and cohesive ties occasionally break down, such as in the sentence ‘One of the disadvantages is that, may create conflicts between the countries’, where a subject pronoun is missing, disrupting the flow. Overall, the organizational structure meets the descriptors for Band 5.0 due to noticeable lapses in progression and mechanical cohesion.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The student uses a limited but minimally adequate range of vocabulary relevant to the topic, such as ‘international sports events’, ‘rivalry’, ‘strategies’, and ‘traditions’. However, there is a lack of flexibility, and word choices tend to be repetitive (e.g., repeating ‘sports events’ and ‘different nations’ multiple times). There are also instances of awkward phrasing and word choice inaccuracies, such as ‘distinct nations’ instead of ‘different nations’, and ‘inappropriate methods’ instead of ‘unfair tactics’. While these lexical slips do not completely impede communication, they reflect a restricted vocabulary resource that struggles to convey precise meanings. Spelling is generally accurate, but the overall lexical range and control align well with Band 5.0 descriptors.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, using conditional and subordinate clauses such as ‘if players of two different nations take part...’. However, these complex structures are frequently faulty or incomplete. There are noticeable grammatical errors throughout the text, including missing subjects ('is that, may create conflicts'), punctuation issues, and awkward phrasing ('various students may take part in different games at international level', lacking an article). The frequency of these errors causes some difficulty for the reader, particularly in the fragmented final paragraph where the sentence structure collapses entirely. The grammatical control is inconsistent, pointing directly to a Band 5.0 level.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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