Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-20

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 the modern world, a significantly growing health issues in people life, because of that individuals try to use another medicines and treatments rather than go to the doctors clinic. I strongly believe that it is a negative development. Because it causes serious problems with their health, due to home remedies may cause serious issue.

It is undeniable fact that people delay thair medical treatment, because they think they can heal by themselves, just to take some regular medications or following AI for their problems. Moreover, it delays their treatment and their healthissue may cause serious problem owing to ignorance. For example, in the British medical university generate the reports about cancer causes patients, also they mentioned that due to neglection, on the very first stage can causes the third stage of cancer. As a result it hard to treat even in the advance world still face many causes and become a cancer.

On the other side, people prefer to do home remedies unless they feels it is not working anymore. Furthermore, individuals infulance from social media and use various methods, but at the end they are suffering for more issue with their health problems and may causes serious issues. In India, for instance, the Hindustan Times shared the data reports that people from rural area who suffering from serious illness, due to their homo-pathic treatment or treated themselves at home. As a result, people are more unwell as compare to before.

In conclusion, at present amount of unwell people are rapidly growth because of they choice alternative of medical treatment or their medicines, that can causes serious illness and and due to home medicines people delay they treatment.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

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. While you mention the dangers of delaying professional treatment, the arguments are repetitive and lack depth. The examples provided, such as the reference to a 'British medical university' and 'Hindustan Times', are vague and not fully integrated to support your argument effectively. To improve, ensure that each paragraph introduces a distinct, well-explained point rather than restating the same concern about delayed treatment. The conclusion is also somewhat repetitive and does not add new insight or summarize the main points effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or inaccurate. For example, 'Because it causes serious problems' at the start of a sentence is grammatically weak, and the transition 'On the other side' is used incorrectly to introduce a supporting argument rather than a contrasting one. Referencing is sometimes unclear, such as the use of 'they' and 'their' without clear antecedents. Improving the flow between sentences and using a wider variety of linking words more naturally would significantly enhance the coherence of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate to convey the main message, but it is limited and often repetitive. You frequently use basic terms like 'serious problems' and 'serious issues' multiple times, which restricts the range. There are also noticeable errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'neglection' instead of 'neglect' and 'advance world' instead of 'advanced world'. To reach a higher band, you should aim to use more precise terminology related to health and medicine and avoid repeating the same phrases throughout the essay.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede the reader's understanding. Common issues include subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'amount of unwell people are rapidly growth'), incorrect verb forms (e.g., 'people... who suffering'), and misuse of prepositions. Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with comma usage. While the meaning is generally clear, the high frequency of errors in basic sentence construction prevents the essay from reaching a higher band. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and correct tense usage will help improve your accuracy.

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.