Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-25

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 recent years, the number of individual are increasing who are trying alternative medicines and treatments for health problems, instead of consulting their doctor. From my perspective it is a negative development because taking medicines without prescription can make addiction and ultimately it can damage to the organs of the body and also taking treatment without supervision of an expert will impact on healing process and can make to suffer in further life.

The primary reason for negative development is, that can make an individual addictive of drugs because using it without prescription of a doctor. The drugs which has higher side effect and with frequent use can lead to kidney damage as it filters the west products in the body. This can also cause the other serious problems related to heart and kidney because some medicine has higher side effect and it can only be taken under an expert supervision. Therefore trying alternative medicine can cause the chronic illnesses.

The another main reason is trying treatments at your own can be sometime wrong decision. The person who is expert in such treatments can guide better than the individual who don't have any knowledge. For instance, there are many treatments related to skin that can be done by cosmetic experts but if it is done by dermatologist who is expert for skin and have sufficient knowledge can do it better. Because of that it is better to consult an expert.

In conclusion, I believe that trying alternative medicines and treatments without an expert guide can cause damage to a individual and also it ultimately lead to negative development.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position that alternative medicine is a negative development. However, the development of ideas is somewhat repetitive. For instance, the argument regarding 'addiction' and 'side effects' is mentioned in the introduction and then restated in the second paragraph without significant expansion. The example provided in the third paragraph regarding dermatologists is slightly confusing, as it compares a 'cosmetic expert' to a 'dermatologist' rather than directly contrasting alternative medicine with conventional medical practice. To improve, ensure each paragraph introduces a distinct, well-supported point rather than circling back to the same general concerns.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the argument. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or slightly inaccurate. Phrases like 'The another main reason' and 'Because of that' are used to link ideas, but they do not always flow naturally. Additionally, the referencing is sometimes unclear; for example, in the second paragraph, the phrase 'that can make an individual addictive' lacks a clear antecedent. While the progression of ideas is logical, the transitions between sentences could be smoother to achieve a higher band score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks precision and variety. There are several instances of awkward word choice and collocation errors, such as 'make addiction' instead of 'cause addiction', 'damage to the organs' instead of 'damage the organs', and 'west products' instead of 'waste products'. The student relies on basic terminology and struggles with more sophisticated collocations. To reach a higher band, focus on learning word families and common collocations used in medical or formal contexts, such as 'adverse effects', 'clinical supervision', or 'conventional medicine'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede the flow. Common issues include subject-verb agreement ('the number of individual are increasing'), article usage ('the dermatologist who is expert for skin'), and awkward phrasing ('can make to suffer in further life'). 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 proofreading for subject-verb agreement and correct preposition usage would significantly improve the clarity of the writing.

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