Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-15

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)

Many people believe that by organising international sports events such as the Football World Cup or The Olympics can have the positive impact on bringing countries together; whereas, other believe that it will result into the competition and not the friendship.

To begin with, many individual claims that an international sport event have the greatest impact on building the relationship with other countries. It is served as a chance to invite different country teams to take a part in the sport events held in their country. For instance, The Olympics sport event consists of varieties of games that are played at the international level by the different players from other countries which would result into building a relations among the number of players who are part of this. In addition to this, it will also be helpful in raising the finance alongwith spreading their own culture to different nations. The players will have the chance to explore the known places of that country and will try to know more about their culture and food habits.

On the contrary, others believe that these international sports events will create a feeling of competition and a rage among the team players to win the game. As this is an international sport event, everyone would try to get ahead of each other to be always on the top. It will result into jealousy among the different countries who are winning repeatedly. Furthermore, there are chances that some of them will also have superiority complex because of the success.

To conclude, there are mixed beliefs on organising the international sport event such as The Olympics and The Football World Cup, I believe that if it is played with the dignity and respect it would have the positive result on building the relationships.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both views: the first body paragraph explains how events can encourage contact between players and expose visitors to another culture, while the second describes rivalry, jealousy and a sense of superiority. Your conclusion also gives a clear personal view that respectful competition can build relationships. However, the discussion is only partly developed. The examples remain general, and the claim that events raise finance is introduced without explaining how this supports international friendship. The opposing view focuses mainly on players’ feelings rather than showing how competition may affect relations between countries. Develop each side with a specific example and explain the link between that example and your argument.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two views, and a conclusion. Transitions such as “To begin with,” “On the contrary,” and “To conclude” make the direction of the discussion easy to follow. This meets the lower-band expectation of coherent organisation and shows some flexibility in linking ideas. However, several connections are mechanical or unclear. For example, “For instance” leads into a broad description of the Olympics rather than a specific illustration, and “In addition to this” introduces finance and culture without clearly linking them to the preceding point about relationships. Use more precise referencing and make the relationship between each supporting point and the paragraph’s main idea explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use vocabulary relevant to the topic, including “international sports events,” “competition,” “jealousy,” “culture,” and “superiority complex.” These choices allow you to communicate both positive and negative effects, and you attempt some less common expressions. However, the range is limited by repeated wording such as “international sport event” and “countries,” while several collocations or word forms are inaccurate: “a rage among the team players,” “building a relations,” and “alongwith” are examples. These choices sometimes make the meaning less natural, even when it remains understandable. Aim for more precise topic vocabulary and check whether words combine naturally, for example when describing rivalry, cultural exchange, or diplomatic relations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex structures, including a contrast clause beginning “whereas” and a conditional sentence in the conclusion. However, complex sentences are often faulty, and errors occur frequently enough to make some sentences difficult to process. For example, the opening has an incomplete construction after “believe that,” and “other believe” and “an international sport event have” show problems with agreement. Articles and plurals are also inconsistent in phrases such as “a relations” and “different country teams.” The final sentence joins two independent ideas with a comma. Practise building accurate subject–verb patterns and separating or correctly joining clauses; then proofread articles, agreement and punctuation.

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