Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-01

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)

It is argued that the Football World Cup and the Olympics bring countries together, while, the other side of the stratosphere believes it promotes competition and not friendship. These occasions encourage socialisation for both athletes and the fans while also promoting tourism; meanwhile, the opportunity to host with neighbouring countries allows them to put their differences aside for a while. Top performances and elite athletes always mean healthy competition for those involved.

People and athletes around the world look up to these events because they happen every two or four years. For some it is an opportunity to travel; visit new places, meet new people, mingle in new cultures and increase their exposure to this wonderful world. It encourages tourism and allows people of different backgrounds to socialise. For instance, the 2022 football World Cup put Qatar on the world map. Previously, people were not aware what and where Qatar was. It boosted their tourism industry and it is a regular country on people's bucket list now. For athletes they have an opportunity to learn from their very best competitors and legends of the sport who have retired.

The FIFA World Cup has rules in place to require a certain number of stadiums for a country to host one ; most countries fail to fulfill this requirement. This means there has to be multiple hosts. To cite an example, the 2026 FIFA World Cup had 3 hosts ; USA, Canada and Mexico. All of them had political differences between them, but for the World Cup they all united, eased policies and welcomed people from all over the world to participate and attend the tournament.

Major events like these promote competition between countries. Competition does not have to be toxic, it can be healthy that allows all competitors to push each other to be better. For example, the 2024 summer Olympics in Paris saw the United States win the most number of medals while Australia finished 2nd with just 2 less. Both the countries hit their all time high tally. The entire tournament was filled with excitement and narrow margins between the two and we all witnessed a kind of competition that allowed both countries to be the best version of themselves.

I believe major events like these are an incredible opppurtunity to bring the world together, promote brotherhood and co-operation between countries and continents. Healthy competition is just a part of that equation ; it holds no one back.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views on international sports events and clearly stating a personal opinion in the introduction and conclusion. The ideas presented are generally relevant, covering tourism, cultural exchange, and healthy competition, such as the example of the 2022 Qatar World Cup and the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, some ideas remain slightly under-developed; for instance, the point about neighbouring countries hosting together could have been expanded further to fully explore how cooperation replaces conflict. While the lower band criteria are fully satisfied, the extension and support of ideas show occasional tendencies to over-generalise, preventing the response from reaching a higher level of thoroughness and depth.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear logical progression from introducing the topic to examining tourism, joint hosting, and healthy competition, concluding with a personal stance. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct themes, such as the social benefits in the second paragraph and the logistics of joint hosting in the third. Cohesive devices are employed, though referencing and transition are sometimes a bit mechanical or abrupt, such as the shift in the opening sentence with phrases like 'while, the other side of the stratosphere believes'. Progression is generally clear, but smoother transitional links between paragraphs would elevate the organizational control to the next standard.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

An adequate range of vocabulary is demonstrated for the task, with attempts to use less common items and specific terminology such as 'elite athletes', 'bucket list', and 'healthy competition'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice, phrasing, and spelling, such as the malapropism 'the other side of the stratosphere' to mean a contrasting viewpoint, and the spelling slip 'opppurtunity' in the final paragraph. These lexical slips do not impede communication, allowing the reader to follow the argument easily, but they prevent the vocabulary score from advancing into more precise and flexible ranges.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms effectively, demonstrating control over relative clauses and conditional ideas. There are some noticeable errors in grammar and punctuation, such as comma splices or awkward punctuation placement like 'hosting one ;' and '3 hosts ; USA', as well as minor preposition and article slips. Nevertheless, these errors are relatively infrequent and rarely impede communication, allowing the majority of sentences to convey meaning clearly. To achieve a higher level, the writer would need to eliminate punctuation errors and increase the frequency of error-free complex structures.

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