Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-05

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)

In recent times, some people believe that international sports is a suitable manner to bring countries together. Others believe that these sport events cause competition, not friendship. In my opinion, I believe it is a great way to bring countries together in unity to enjoy sports.

On the one hand, this actually fosters unity and friendship among themselves. When they play sports with their counterparts from other countries, they are able to know eachother, and learn about their culture and food. Furthermore, these players could learn better sports techniques from one and another. For example, In Nigeria, a volleyball team played with another team in Ghana, they had the opportunity to explore the country with the Ghana team after the match. They had a taste of their local dishes and soups. This consequently led to a great friendship and bonding among themselves.

On the other hand, Other people believe this brings about competition because most of the players want to win and prove that they are the best. Due to this drive to win, they can be hostile to each other by playing roughy at the pitch. For instance, in Zimbabwe, their players played a football match with Ethiopia players, The keen interest to win the match, led to the Zimbabwe players suffering from leg injuries aftevthe match

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the main parts of the task by discussing both views on international sports events and providing an opinion in the introduction. However, the length requirement is not met as the essay is under the minimum word count, which limits the depth of the discussion. The ideas presented, such as cultural exchange and player hostility, are relevant but remain somewhat limited and under-developed, particularly in the concluding portion and the second body paragraph where examples lack broader analytical extension. To reach a higher level, the writer would need to expand the word count and provide fully elaborated arguments with deeper explanations regarding how international sports both unite and divide nations.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a clear stance stated in the introduction. Paragraphing is used to separate the two opposing viewpoints and the introduction. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty, such as the repetitive use of transitions and some unclear referencing, for instance with pronoun usage in the second paragraph where it is occasionally ambiguous who 'they' refers to. Progression is visible as the text moves from one perspective to the other, but the logical flow between sentences could be smoother. To achieve a higher band, the writer must employ a wider range of cohesive devices more naturally and ensure precise referencing throughout.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for the task, providing enough range to discuss the topic of sports events, but it contains noticeable lexical errors and awkward collocations that cause some difficulty for the reader. Examples of this include phrases like 'a suitable manner', 'sport events', and the spelling error 'aftevthe'. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary, such as 'fosters unity' and 'hostile', but inaccuracies in word choice prevent the writing from achieving precision. To improve, the writer should focus on expanding their range of natural collocations, improving word forms, and carefully proofreading for spelling mistakes.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The essay displays a limited range of sentence structures, relying heavily on simple forms and basic complex patterns, with attempts at complex sentences often containing faults. There are frequent grammatical errors in article usage, prepositions, and punctuation, such as missing commas and incorrect prepositional phrases like 'at the pitch' instead of 'on the pitch'. While these errors do not completely obscure the intended meaning, they occur regularly enough to cause strain for the reader. To move up to the next band, the writer needs to demonstrate a greater variety of complex structures with improved accuracy, particularly regarding prepositions and basic syntactic agreement.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.