Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-12

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 recent years, an increasing number of people have started using alternative medicines and treatements instead of visiting convential doctors. While I acknowledge that it has some benefits. I believe it is overall a negative development.

There are several reasons why alternative medicines and treatements are useful. Sometimes people prefer to heal our minor infection at the home, they believe they need not to go to the hospitals. They use some herbal remedies, acupuncture and home therapy rather than consulting a conventional doctor. Some prople thought that modern medicines have more side effects than herbal remedies. For instance, some peoplte use ginger tea, turmeric and honey in cold instead of using antibiotics. Secondly,the way of alternative medicines are very cheap and more accessible to everyone, especially in the rurlar areas where medical facilities are limited. Some people don't go to the hospitals because they have no any cost to spend on themselves. Finally, some therapies like Yoga and meditation do help with stress and other lifestyle diseases.

On the contrast, I think disadvantages are more significant. Some people have various illnesses like cancer and some types of infections. These ailments required proper modern treatement. For example, when we have headache, then we need a proper tests with higher ultrasonic rays. Secondly, when we have a Diabetes but we used herbal remedies instead of insulin. This can lead to serious complications.

In the conclusion, herbal remedies and other traditional medicine have no side effects but in many times it brings catastrophic results. So we need to go to the specialization in the serious health problems.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of alternative medicines and clearly stating a negative position. The ideas are relevant and supported with examples, such as ginger tea, turmeric, and honey for colds, as well as the risks of replacing insulin with herbal remedies for diabetes. However, some ideas are slightly under-developed or generalise too broadly, such as mentioning ultrasonic rays for headaches. The writer takes a clear stance throughout the essay and follows through with appropriate reasoning. Overall, the performance aligns well with the Band 6.0 descriptors because all parts of the task are addressed and a position is presented, though development could be extended further.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing, dividing the introduction, body paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Secondly', and 'On the contrast' are used to structure the text, although some transitions feel slightly mechanical or are used inaccurately (e.g., 'On the contrast'). Pronoun referencing is occasionally unclear, such as 'heal our minor infection at the home'. Progression is generally visible, but logical flow is sometimes disrupted by awkward phrasing and sentence linking. This corresponds to a Band 6.0, where information and ideas are coherent and there is a clear overall progression, but cohesive devices show faults.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'alternative medicines', 'herbal remedies', and 'acupuncture'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, including 'treatements', 'convential', 'prople', 'rurlar', and 'specialization'. Collocations are sometimes awkward, such as 'have no any cost to spend' or 'bring catastrophic results'. While these inaccuracies do not completely impede communication, they restrict the lexical score to Band 5.5, as the vocabulary range and precision show frequent minor errors and spelling slips.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing conditional and relative structures (e.g., 'While I acknowledge that it has some benefits, I believe...'). However, there is a high frequency of grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('These ailments required'), incorrect article usage ('in the home', 'a Diabetes'), and preposition mistakes ('at the home'). Sentence boundaries are also occasionally breached, as seen in the fragmented second sentence of the introduction. Because errors are frequent and sometimes cause difficulty for the reader despite the attempt at complex structures, this performance fits the Band 5.0 descriptor profile.

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