Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-01

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)

It has been observed that in todays world a significant number of individuals do not regularly visit their doctors, instead they try home remedies for their health concerns. I persume, the benefits of these precautionary action would surpass it drawbacks to a certain extent. My position is elaborated further with reasons and relevant examples.

Examining the brighter side of, the foremost one is that, frequently doctor visit are life safer. As doctor should be aware person medical condition either the person on which stage or which medication they take and which should skip as they further do not need it. For example, regular check up did lab testing to know the exact values, how far it treated and which precautionary measure we are taking to further prevent it from spreading and affecting other organs. Moreover, by routine visits, you will be more known about advanced treatment plan, knowledge about your health status, what measure you do and what not.

Furthermore, the mentioned benefits there will be some neagtive aspect. To go hospitals every other day is not convenient for everyone regarding financial , such as they are not able to pay fare, their medications, labortory test, doctors consultation charges. To add to, all of these circumstances compel persons to take other route that is herbal medication in which they use either fruits or vegetables along with herbs then following remedies which they watch on social media regarding know their side effects.

On the contrary, I would not overlook the positive developmental side of health care professionals. To begin with, the major concern in this own remedies, never blindly trust on every other thing which we hear and see because every person medical condition is different so they react in different way.

To conclude, there are both merits and demerits of treatments. However, I believe that, in person check-up is far more important regarding how far we are in developing stage but technology do not replace the Doctors knowledge, also their experience is more than robots.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt, but the position is inconsistent. You initially state that the benefits of alternative medicine 'surpass its drawbacks', yet the body paragraphs focus heavily on the importance of doctors, and the conclusion remains somewhat ambiguous. The development of ideas is limited; for instance, the explanation of why people choose herbal medicine is clear, but the argument regarding the 'brighter side' of doctor visits is confusingly phrased, making it difficult to follow your logic. To improve, ensure your position is clearly stated in the introduction and consistently supported throughout each paragraph without contradicting yourself.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into paragraphs, but the logical progression is frequently interrupted by awkward phrasing and unclear transitions. While you use cohesive devices like 'Moreover' and 'Furthermore', they are sometimes used incorrectly or do not effectively link the ideas. For example, the transition 'On the contrary' is used to introduce a point that actually supports the previous argument rather than contrasting it. Additionally, referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the phrase 'the mentioned benefits there will be some neagtive aspect', which lacks a clear connection to the preceding text. Improving the flow between sentences would significantly enhance the readability.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks precision and variety. There are several instances of word-choice errors and non-standard collocations, such as 'doctor visit are life safer' (life-saving) and 'in person check-up' (in-person check-ups). You rely on basic vocabulary and struggle with more sophisticated academic terms. Spelling errors, such as 'persume', 'neagtive', and 'labortory', occur throughout the text. To reach a higher band, focus on using more precise academic collocations and ensure you are using words in their correct grammatical form.

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 communication. Issues include subject-verb agreement ('doctor visit are'), missing articles, and incorrect preposition usage. Sentence construction is often fragmented or awkward, such as 'As doctor should be aware person medical condition either the person on which stage or which medication they take'. These errors are frequent and distract the reader. To improve, focus on mastering basic sentence structure, subject-verb agreement, and the correct use of articles before attempting more complex grammatical forms.

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