Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-17

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)

There are people who think that international sport events are a good oportunnity to promote union among countries, whereas others believe that big international sport events only foster competitivity between countries, instead of strenghten relationships. I believe that these events are good to meet people from other nationalities but it is potencially more harmful than beneficient.

Big international events such as The Olympics or the Football World Cup are a good way to meet people from everywhere around the world because it is entertaining and many people like to watch in person these games and cheer for their country. It promotes union, however it happens mainly among citizens of the same nationality, because might have language barriers to communicate with other nationalities. For example, in the last Word Cup that happened in New York City, you could see Americans interacting with Brazilians but these interactions were quite shallow, once they could not speak their mother tongue with each other, so they appealed to mimics. What makes Americans stay with Americans, and the same happened to Brazilians.

On the other hand, some people are not able to share these moments with their rivals while maintaining a respectfull friendship. The competition is severe and some countries do not take it easy, which is understandable when we consider that a competition like Football Word Cup can bring a huge amount of money to the winner country. Another example of the same recent World Cup is the many fights that happened between Brazilians and Argentinians, in many cases they had to call the police to mitigate the problems that they were causing on the New York streets. Some people simply are not able to stay side by side with their rivals without confusion.

In conclusion, these events are good to entertain at certain level, but they may cause many problems between people that take the competition too seriously.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both views and give a clear personal position: international events can bring people together, but you consider their harmful effects more significant. The two body paragraphs are relevant, using examples of cross-national interaction and clashes between Brazilian and Argentinian supporters. However, the first view is developed less fully: the discussion focuses on language barriers and interaction among fans of the same nationality, rather than explaining how shared sporting experiences can build friendship between countries. The claim that the winner country receives substantial money also needs clearer explanation of how this intensifies rivalry. Develop these points with more precise reasoning and examples, and make the comparison between the two views more explicit.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, one paragraph for each view, and a conclusion that restates your position. Transitions such as “On the other hand” and “In conclusion” help readers follow the discussion. Some links between ideas are less clear or feel mechanical. For instance, “It promotes union, however it happens mainly among citizens…” joins contrasting points without clear punctuation, and “What makes Americans stay with Americans” is a sentence fragment whose connection to the example is not fully expressed. The conclusion also repeats the central claim without drawing together the two arguments. Use clearer sentence connections and refer explicitly to how each example supports your overall comparison.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use vocabulary relevant to the topic, including “language barriers,” “competition is severe,” and “mitigate the problems,” and your meaning is generally understandable. However, noticeable spelling, word-form, and collocation errors reduce precision, including “oportunnity,” “competitivity,” “strenghten,” “potencially,” and “beneficient.” Some phrases are also unnatural, such as “meet people from everywhere around the world” and “stay side by side with their rivals without confusion.” Choose more conventional expressions and check spelling and word forms carefully. A more accurate range of topic vocabulary would help you express the distinction between international unity, national pride, and rivalry more precisely.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mix of simple and complex structures, including a contrast clause beginning “whereas others believe” and a conditional phrase with “when we consider.” The main ideas remain understandable, but some sentence structures and punctuation are inaccurate. For example, “because might have language barriers” lacks a clear subject, while “What makes Americans stay with Americans” is a fragment. The sentence beginning “It promotes union, however…” needs stronger punctuation or a conjunction to connect the clauses correctly. There are also errors in article use and sentence construction, as in “at certain level.” Review clause structure, ensure each sentence has a complete main clause, and proofread punctuation while retaining your attempts at complex sentences.

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