Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-11-08

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Nowadays, a growing number of people with health problems are trying alternative medicines and treatments instead of visiting their usual doctor.

Do you think this is a positive or a negative development?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

In a current era, many people were suffering from different health problems. They all try alternative madicines and treatments instead of visiting their family doctor. From my prospective. it is a negitive development. They all need a skillful doctors which can help them to get rid of these problems instead of using alternative methodolgy for that health problem. By this, many peoples making there health more serious.

It has been a serious negitive development because by other treatments, they convert small health problems into complex problems. To illustrate it, if a person has fever and cough problem, he take different medicines like bruffin for fever and cough. He do not know about this well and take it over needed this will make serious problem for him. Famous qoute "excess of every thing is bad". It will make problem for him.

On the other hand, some people do treatments by their own self. They think that they can do it well from others. For example, if a person have small cut on his hand. Instead of going to doctor, he try to treat it by himself. He cover it with bandages but not go to doctor for good treatment because of doctor fees. Some people can afford but those who can not. Do these small treatments by themselves.

In the end, I say that its a negitive development. Every person will not be able to treat every health problem. He must need doctor for it so instead of trying different treatments at home, he must go to the doctor.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is clear: you consider relying on alternative treatments instead of seeing a doctor to be negative, and you give relevant examples involving fever and cough, and a cut. However, the response only partly develops the task. The fever example explains the danger of taking medicine without guidance, but the cut example focuses mainly on avoiding doctors’ fees and does not clearly show how alternative treatment causes harm. The discussion also treats self-treatment and alternative medicine as similar without explaining the distinction. To strengthen the response, explain more precisely why these choices can be risky, support each example with a clear consequence, and briefly acknowledge why some people choose alternative treatments before reaffirming your view.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. The contrast marker “On the other hand” signals a shift to another example, and “In the end” introduces your final position. However, progression within the paragraphs is sometimes unclear, and several ideas are repeated, particularly the claim that people should visit a doctor. Connections between claims and examples also need to be made more explicit; for instance, the cut example does not clearly connect avoiding a doctor with a negative health outcome. Some transitions feel mechanical, and the sentence fragment “Some people can afford but those who can not” interrupts the flow. Organise each body paragraph around one reason, then explain and illustrate it in a clear sequence.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use a small set of relevant health-related terms, including “alternative medicines,” “family doctor,” “fever,” “cough,” and “bandages,” so the general topic is understandable. However, vocabulary is limited and several noticeable spelling and word-choice errors make parts of the response less clear, such as “madicines,” “negitive,” “methodolgy,” and “bruffin.” Some expressions are also unnatural or imprecise, including “from my prospective,” “by their own self,” and “make serious problem.” Aim to learn accurate topic vocabulary and common collocations, and check spelling carefully. More precise wording for risks, medical advice, and self-treatment would help you explain your position without relying on repeated general terms such as “problem” and “treatment.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

Most sentences use simple structures, and you attempt some longer forms, such as “They all need a skillful doctors which can help them…” and the conditional example beginning “if a person has fever and cough problem.” However, attempts at complex sentences are often faulty, and errors in verb forms, agreement, articles, and sentence boundaries occur frequently. Examples include “many peoples making,” “he take,” “He do not know,” and “if a person have.” The fragment “Some people can afford but those who can not” also leaves the thought incomplete, while “From my prospective. it is…” has incorrect sentence punctuation. Practise subject–verb agreement and complete sentence patterns, then proofread each sentence for a clear subject and verb.

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.