Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-02
IELTS Writing Task 2 question
Many manufactured food and drink products contain high levels of sugar, which causes many health problems. Sugary products should be made more expensive to encourage people to consume less sugar.
Do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Student answer (Band 5.5)
In the present day, a significantly increasing number of individuals with health problems are utilizing alternative medicines and treatments instead of visiting their usual doctor. Although alternative medicines can sometimes be valuable, I personally believe that this is a negative development because certain health problems cannot be cured through medicines alone and alternative treatments can possibly aggravate the medical condition.
Looking at alternative medicines and treatments, these approaches can help cure minor health problems such as fevers and headaches but aren't able to cure major medical conditions such as pneumonia and diabetes. For instance, when a person has diabetes, he may be asked to visit his doctor's office every week for an injection, but when an individual has a fever, he may be asked to take medication instead. As a result, minor health problems can be cured by using alternative medicines and treatments.
Turning to the importance of visiting a doctor, there are plenty of benefits when visiting the doctor's office, such as discovering a medical condition. For example, when a patient usually visits his doctor every month for a checkup, sometimes the doctor, using his expertise, can discover that the patient has a medical condition. Consequently, the patient can receive appropriate treatment before the condition becomes more serious.
In conclusion, although alternative medicines and treatments can sometimes be beneficial, I firmly believe that using them instead of visiting the doctor is a negative development, as the doctor can detect a medical condition and cure it as soon as possible and identify major health problems.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 2.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 7.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 6.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 7.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 2.0
The response is completely off-topic. The prompt asks for an opinion on whether sugary products should be made more expensive to reduce consumption. However, the essay discusses the use of alternative medicines versus visiting a doctor. Because the response fails to address the prompt entirely, it cannot be assessed for task achievement regarding the specific topic provided. In an actual IELTS examination, this would result in a very low score for Task Response as the candidate has failed to answer the question asked.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0
The essay is logically organized with clear paragraphing and a consistent structure. Each paragraph has a central topic, and the progression of ideas is easy to follow. Cohesive devices such as 'In the present day', 'Although', 'For instance', and 'In conclusion' are used effectively to link sentences and ideas. While the content is irrelevant to the prompt, the structural integrity of the writing demonstrates a level of coherence that would be appropriate for a higher band if the content were relevant.
Lexical Resource — Band 6.0
The vocabulary is adequate for the task, showing a sufficient range to express ideas clearly. The student uses terms like 'alternative medicines', 'aggravate', 'medical condition', and 'expertise' appropriately. There is some repetition of phrases such as 'alternative medicines and treatments' and 'medical condition', which limits the range. However, the word choice is generally accurate and natural, and there are no significant spelling or word-choice errors that impede communication.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 7.0
The student demonstrates a good control of grammar, using a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are frequent error-free sentences, such as 'Although alternative medicines can sometimes be valuable, I personally believe that this is a negative development'. Punctuation is generally accurate, and the use of complex sentences is controlled. While the range is not particularly wide or sophisticated, the accuracy is high, and the errors are minimal and do not interfere with the reader's understanding.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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