Competitive sport in schools
This is a model answer written to show what a Band 7 response looks like against the marking criteria. It is a worked example, not a graded submission. To see your own band, paste your writing into the free checker.
The prompt
Some people believe that competitive sports should play a major role in school life, while others think they do more harm than good to children. What is your opinion?
Band 7 model answer (266 words)
Competition on the sports field divides opinion among parents: some see it as essential training for life, others as a source of needless pressure and humiliation. I believe competitive sport belongs firmly in schools, provided it is run so that every child, not only the athletic few, takes part meaningfully.
The central benefit is that competition teaches lessons no classroom can. Losing a match in front of friends, and returning to train the following week, builds a tolerance for setbacks that adult life demands constantly, in job applications, business and relationships. Team sports add further layers: children learn to rely on weaker teammates, accept a referee's bad decision, and win without gloating. These experiences are rehearsals for adulthood, run in a place where the stakes are safely low.
Critics rightly note that badly run sport can wound children, when the same few stars are always picked, and the rest stand cold on the sidelines learning only that they are unwanted. Yet this is an argument about how schools organise sport, not whether they should. Leagues arranged by ability, rotating team selection, and a wide menu of sports from swimming to badminton allow almost every child to compete somewhere at their own level.
It is also worth remembering the physical stakes. Childhood inactivity is rising in most developed countries, and a school that makes sport genuinely engaging does more for public health than any poster campaign.
In conclusion, competitive sport builds resilience, teamwork and healthy habits that lessons alone cannot provide, and schools should embrace it while making sure no child is left permanently on the bench.
Why this reaches Band 7
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Task Response
The opinion comes with a meaningful condition ("provided it is run so that every child... takes part") that is then actually cashed out in the third paragraph, turning the concession into part of the argument rather than a hedge.
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Coherence and Cohesion
The argument advances logically from character benefits to the objection to health, and the closing image ("left permanently on the bench") ties back to the sidelines problem raised earlier.
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Lexical Resource
Vivid but controlled language such as "rehearsals for adulthood", "tolerance for setbacks" and "win without gloating" demonstrates genuine range on the topic.
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Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Sophisticated structures, including the reduced clause "run in a place where the stakes are safely low", used with consistent accuracy.
The one fix to reach Band 7
What keeps this essay type at Band 6 is treating the objection as an enemy to dismiss in one line. The Band 7 move is to accept the critics' best point, badly run sport does hurt children, and then show how your position already contains the solution.
Now check your own answer.
Paste your own attempt at this prompt and Examinerly names the single criterion keeping you below your target band, and shows the sentence-level fix. We never inflate your band.
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