Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-11-10

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 5.0)

A growing number of peoples with health problems are trying alternative medicines and treatments instead of visiting their usual doctor nowadays.

Overall, Many people try alternative medicines instead of visiting their family doctors which can cause serious health disorders. They should go to their family doctor for routine checkup. not to pharmacies for trying new medicines.

Firstly, Social health departments such as punjab health comission should start campaigns and aware peoples about the effects or disadvantages of medicine while it consumed without prescription it can cause more damage instead of cure or treatment.

Secondly, Pharmacies or medical stores stritcly refuse to give medicine without prescription. and guide peoples about they should visit their family doctors. They have their complete medical history they can better treat you than other. in case a patient has diabtes and high blood pressure how can any person give him medicine which may cause high blood pressure and high sugar level in blood it will make more health disorders.

In addition, Drug regulatory authority should investigate all the system and make it better. we can not call this development its a distruction of our community or society. Peoples destroying theirselves by their own hand.These standard operating proceedures can help to give awareness to our society.

I strongly believes that its a negative development for our youth this should be restricted as soon as possible and goverment should also take action against it. In our society young children's taking medicines from pharmacies which contains nicotine and they are addicted to these drugs so we have to make a proper solution for this problem and it should be discussed at national level and resolved. it helps a lot in well-being and a healthy life style.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is clear: you regard people replacing doctors with alternative medicines as a negative development. You give relevant reasons, including risks from taking medicine without a prescription and the value of a doctor knowing a patient’s medical history; the example involving diabetes and high blood pressure helps illustrate this concern. However, the response only partly develops the task. It shifts from alternative treatments to obtaining medicines from pharmacies and to nicotine-containing products, without explaining how these examples relate to alternative medicine. The proposed campaigns and restrictions are also listed rather than explained in depth. To strengthen the response, define the specific risks of alternative treatments, support each main reason with a focused example, and maintain a clear distinction between alternative therapies and self-medication.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a recognisable structure, with an opening, several body paragraphs and a concluding opinion. Sequencing words such as “Firstly,” “Secondly” and “In addition” help signal new points, and the final paragraph returns to your negative position. However, progression is not consistently clear: the discussion moves from alternative medicine to pharmacies, regulatory authorities and nicotine products, so the relationship between points is sometimes difficult to follow. Some sentences are also joined or separated awkwardly, and the repeated use of “people” and “should” makes the links feel mechanical. Organise the essay around two or three distinct reasons, use each paragraph to develop one reason, and add clearer references explaining how each example supports your argument.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “prescription,” “medical history,” “drug regulatory authority” and “health disorders,” which helps communicate your concerns. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate or unclear, such as “aware peoples,” “effects or disadvantages of medicine,” and “destroying theirselves by their own hand.” Spelling errors, including “stritcly,” “diabtes” and “proceedures,” also reduce precision. Some expressions, such as “family doctor,” are repeated rather than varied. Build a more accurate set of phrases for discussing treatment and risk, and check spelling and word forms carefully. More precise vocabulary would make your argument easier to understand and sound more appropriate for an academic essay.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple statements and longer sentences, including a conditional example about a patient with diabetes and high blood pressure. However, the range is limited, and complex sentences are often faulty. Errors include agreement in “I strongly believes,” missing or incorrect articles and plurals in “a proper solution” and “young children's,” and sentence-boundary problems such as “without prescription. and guide peoples.” Capitalisation is also inconsistent, as in “Overall, Many” and “In addition, Drug.” These errors recur and sometimes make relationships between ideas harder to follow. Practise forming accurate compound and complex sentences, especially with conjunctions and conditional clauses, and proofread for agreement, articles, punctuation and sentence boundaries.

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