Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-12

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 today's rapidly changing world every aspect of human life have been evolving significantly.In recent years patients are using alternative medicine rather than going to a medical expert the number of these people increase gradually.In my point of view this is a negative development because people should went to the doctor first and after a proper checkup they should use an appropriate medicine.

Firstly I want to ask that most of the people are unaware of their disease and thought that it is a slight fever or illness and use common medicine which are used in fever.Due to this non serious attitude they came to know about their disease at last stages of the cronic disease and then their family and relative face many difficulties to save their lives and most of the time due to these kind of attitude the person died due to the harmful effects of disease.

We should acknowledged people to go to doctor for a proper checkup at least one time in a month.

And if they diagnose a disease the person should given a proper treatment.Furthermore the medical facilities in rural areas should be increased so the people in rural area also be given a proper treatment for different disease.

So we can make a conclusion that this trend propose harmful effect in our society and people should go through proper checkup then use a medicine. People blindly use different medicine which later harm them.There should also written article present in newspaper about disease and their treatment so people are aware of them.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position that the trend is negative. However, the development of ideas is limited. The arguments regarding the dangers of self-diagnosis and the need for better rural facilities are relevant but lack depth and specific examples. The essay tends to over-generalize, such as claiming that people 'blindly use different medicine' or that patients 'died' due to these attitudes. To reach a higher band, you should provide more nuanced reasoning and concrete examples of why alternative medicine might be perceived as a risk compared to conventional treatment, rather than relying on repetitive statements about the need for checkups.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into paragraphs, but the logical flow is often interrupted by mechanical transitions and repetitive sentence structures. While there are some cohesive devices used, such as 'Firstly' and 'Furthermore', they are sometimes used in a way that feels forced or disconnected from the preceding thought. The progression of ideas is somewhat disjointed, particularly in the transition between the discussion of rural facilities and the conclusion. Improving the use of referencing and ensuring that each sentence builds logically upon the previous one would significantly enhance the coherence of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and range required for higher bands. You rely on basic terms like 'good', 'bad', 'harmful', and 'difficulties'. There are also some issues with word choice and collocation, such as 'we should acknowledged people' (should acknowledge) and 'cronic disease' (chronic). To improve, you should aim to incorporate more topic-specific vocabulary related to healthcare, such as 'symptoms', 'professional medical consultation', 'efficacy', or 'conventional medicine', and ensure that you use these terms accurately in context.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede the reader's understanding. There are consistent issues with subject-verb agreement ('every aspect... have been evolving'), verb tense consistency ('people should went to the doctor'), and passive voice construction ('the person should given a proper treatment'). While you attempt some complex structures, they are often faulty. To improve, focus on mastering basic sentence construction, specifically ensuring that verbs agree with their subjects and that tense usage is consistent throughout the essay. Proofreading for these fundamental errors will help improve your score.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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