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)

Nowadays, health problems is growing significantly among citizens and mostly people are using alternative medicines and treatment instead of visiting their usual doctor. From my point of view, this very dangerous and negative development. Two arguments for my opinion are explained below in detail.

First of all, using wrong medicines and doing our treatment by own is very dangerous for over health. It my cause some serious health problems like swelling and effecting our internal organs. Even it may responsible for death of patient. Let me show you an example of my close friend Ali, Few days ago he felt pain in his stomach instead of visiting a doctor he take tablet from his mother medicines and this action cause a serious problem for him. After that he was remain in hospital for about 3 days. And such kind of treatment does not make any sense.

Secondly, Many residents do treatment by their own without any knowledge. They do treatment of their wounds and cuts in their home without going to any doctor for saving money. Even they do not use any good spirit and they do not use any medkit. Specially, these kind activities are very common in my region.Let me show you an example of my own experience, Once i try to treatment my wound in home to save money and i got serious infection after taking this step. After that i did not try to took this stupid decision again in my entire life.

To sum up, it should be notice that we have to visit doctors for health problems instead of trying wrong medicines. It is essential to our lives.

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 somewhat limited. While you provide personal examples, they are anecdotal and lack the depth required for a higher band. The arguments focus heavily on 'self-medication' rather than the broader concept of 'alternative medicine' (such as herbalism or acupuncture), which limits the scope of your response. To improve, ensure you explore the implications of the trend more comprehensively, perhaps discussing why people turn to these methods or the potential risks versus benefits in a more analytical manner.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organised into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow your argument. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or repetitive (e.g., 'First of all', 'Secondly', 'After that'). There are also issues with referencing; for instance, 'this very dangerous and negative development' lacks a clear subject. The flow between sentences is sometimes disjointed, particularly in the second paragraph where the transition from general statements to personal experience feels abrupt. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring that pronouns clearly refer to previous nouns will enhance the logical progression.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and range expected at higher levels. You rely on basic terms like 'wrong medicines' and 'good spirit' (likely meaning antiseptic). There are several word-choice errors, such as 'doing our treatment by own' instead of 'self-medicating' or 'treating ourselves'. The phrase 'mother medicines' is also unclear. To reach a higher band, you should aim to use more academic collocations and precise terminology related to health and medical practices, while avoiding informal or non-standard phrasing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text that occasionally impede clarity. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('health problems is growing'), incorrect verb forms ('he take tablet', 'I try to treatment'), and awkward sentence structures ('Even it may responsible for death'). While you attempt some complex sentences, they are often marred by errors. To improve, focus on mastering basic sentence construction, specifically verb tenses and the correct use of prepositions. Proofreading for common errors like missing articles and incorrect word forms will significantly improve your score.

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

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