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)
In current era, more and more people with health issues are now chosing alternative medicines and therapies over convertional treatment. I believe this is a negative development because of many alternatives are fake also not certified by goverment and some of has dangeraous side effects.
Many alternatives medicines in online are not cerfied by goverment and fake. Because of some unscrupulous buisnessmen made fake medicine for making money and also these medicine are not have any permission to sell publicly. So the sell their medcine in online platfrom. As a result people got scamed after buy this type of medicine. For example , in bangladesh a facebook page name "Alo medicine" sell medcine for hair growth and so many people buy this product, then they got no benifits from this product , after a month the page disappear. In online platfrom so many scamer sell fake medicine so everyone should be allert.
On the other side, some harbal medicine has dangerous side effects.Because these type of medicine has huge drag effect, they quickly effect on body also efected on the other part of bodies and its very detrimental. Moreover , people take harbal without checking exact ailment. As a result it caused very harmfull for their bodies.Whatever, in convertional treatment doctor sugest medicine after justify the exact ailment and this medicine has no side effect also safe for health.
In conclusion, the increased use of alternative medicines and therapies should be viewed as a negative development due to lack regulation and dangerous side effects. So people should be aware before taking medicine.
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 clearly stating a negative position on the trend of using alternative medicines instead of visiting a doctor. The writer supports this stance with two main ideas: the proliferation of uncertified, fake online remedies and the dangerous side effects of herbal medicines. While the position is clear throughout, the ideas are somewhat under-developed and lack extension. For example, the mention of the Facebook page in Bangladesh is a relevant specific example, but the explanation remains brief and general. The response covers all parts of the task appropriately, placing it comfortably in Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The essay has a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used to separate distinct ideas, such as online scams versus physical side effects. However, cohesion is frequently faulty and mechanical. The writer relies heavily on basic transitional markers like 'Moreover', 'Whatever', and 'As a result', and referencing is sometimes unclear, such as 'these type of medicine has huge drag effect'. Paragraph transitions could be smoother and cohesive devices more varied. Overall, the organizational structure is adequate for a Band 5.5.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with attempts at less common items such as 'unscrupulous buisnessmen', 'detrimental', and 'ailment'. However, there are numerous spelling and word-choice errors that occur throughout the text, including 'chosing' (choosing), 'convertional' (conventional), 'goverment' (government), 'platfrom' (platform), 'allert' (alert), 'harbal' (herbal), and 'sugest' (suggest). These errors do not seriously impede communication because the writer's meaning is generally clear, but they prevent the score from reaching a higher band. This corresponds to Band 5.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some variety in structure. However, there are frequent grammatical errors in almost every sentence, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('some alternatives are fake also not certified', 'these medicine are not have any permission') and awkward phrasing ('they quickly effect on body also efected on the other part of bodies'). While meaning is rarely completely obscured, the high density of grammatical inaccuracies means that error-free sentences are the minority. This performance aligns with Band 5.0 descriptors.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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