Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-17
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 5.0)
Medical problems are increase day by day because of people unhealthy lifestyle and different experience on health by own. Some people trying different therapy and homemade for their health issues by their own without consulting doctor or without any expert advise. According to me it is very harmful practice and it can lead to dangerous situation.
To begin with, in present the health cost is increase day by day as result of that people try to avoid going hospital for checkup, they think when medicine is available in medical story so why we go in hospital. Moreover, ai play a major role in this situation. For example, if someone get fever they ask ai what treatment they need and ai give theme all information and treatment; Although it is not hundred present accurate but nearly true, so people believe on that.
By trying home reminds, medicine by owne and take treatment without consenting doctor is harmful for individual Because it can lead serious problem. As instance, one person have chest pain and he or she think it's just gas trouble and take some alternative treatment but what if it is heart attack pain? At that time person face complication. Moreover, if we don't properly treat some decease it lead to major disorder. For example, if person treat her urine track infection symptoms by home reminds but bacteria remains and it reach at kidney and cause pyelonephritis which is serious kidney infection also lead to kidney failure.
In conclusion, person should consert atlist once whenever the develop new symptoms. It is best to take medicine by doctor proscription rather than taken by own because they also have some side effects which we are not aware about.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses the prompt by discussing whether using alternative medicines instead of visiting a doctor is a positive or negative development, clearly taking a strong negative stance ('According to me it is very harmful practice'). The student covers all parts of the task and supports their opinion with relevant examples, such as mistaking a heart attack for gas trouble or a urinary tract infection progressing to pyelonephritis. However, the development of ideas suffers from a lack of depth and overly simplistic argumentation. While the position is clear throughout, the explanations tend to be repetitive and could be extended further to reach a higher band level. Therefore, it fits the Band 6 descriptor well.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The essay displays an overall coherent arrangement with basic paragraphing. The writer attempts to structure the essay using cohesive devices such as 'To begin with', 'Moreover', and 'In conclusion'. However, referencing is not always clear (e.g., 'they think when medicine is available in medical story so why we go in hospital'), and some cohesive devices feel mechanical or awkward. Paragraphing is present, grouping introduction, body points, and conclusion adequately, but the internal logical progression within paragraphs is sometimes hindered by grammatical fragmentation and awkward phrasing, placing this firmly at Band 5.5, which rounds to Band 5 for whole-number reporting, or Band 5.0 depending on strict interpretation, but here evaluated safely at Band 5.0 based on inadequate and repetitive cohesive devices.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The student demonstrates a limited but minimally adequate range of vocabulary for the task. Words related to health and medicine are attempted, such as 'alternative medicines', 'infection', 'symptoms', and 'pyelonephritis'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors and inappropriate word choices throughout, such as 'medical story' instead of 'medical store' or 'pharmacy', 'home reminds' instead of 'home remedies', and 'consert atlist' instead of 'consult at least'. These errors cause some difficulty for the reader and reflect a basic vocabulary range with frequent word-choice and spelling inaccuracies, which aligns with a Band 5 descriptor.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but attempts at complex structures are frequently faulty. There are persistent grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('Medical problems are increase', 'health cost is increase'), missing articles ('without consulting doctor'), and incorrect verb forms ('without consenting doctor', 'taken by own'). Punctuation is also weak, with run-on sentences and comma splices. While communication is not entirely impeded and the general meaning remains clear, the high frequency of errors places this performance at a Band 5 level.
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.