Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-20

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 4.0)

People who do not follow proper treatment plan instead using different sort of medicines result in health problems. I partly agree with the view of growing a high number of people are facing health insecurites so the reason is they believe local medicines can be beneficial for local health desease such as pain killer, sleeping dose, diebitics plan properly don't applicable. However, once a year taking those kinds of medicines can not be affect as they can do in common use.

Firstly, increasing a huge amount of people may be not well educated so might be possible their way of thinking could not be satisfied for professional doctors' fee structure since private hospitalization can not as easy as Government for low-income. Secondly, those people are not fully aware of pros and cons of professional treatment so their desire demands rapid relief of such kinds of desease such as body pain and so on.

On the other hand, I strongly agree that visiting doctors in normal daily routine can be more beneficial instead of having self assumption medicine to make ourself comfortable with the short period of time. Although, researcher claim that daibetic patient are more healtheir than those who don't follow proper doctor's plan.

In conclusion, alternative usage of medical for treatment might not affective as the selective and proper treatment plans for several deseases. Lastly, Financial budget can be valued for those who took descion for unnecessary things to make their for granted.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.5

The response attempts to address the prompt by discussing whether using alternative medicines instead of visiting a doctor is positive or negative, but the position is somewhat unclear and confused by contradictory statements. For instance, the writer states 'I partly agree' and then later claims 'I strongly agree that visiting doctors in normal daily routine can be more beneficial', which blurs the overall stance. Furthermore, ideas are often underdeveloped and repetitive, relying on vague generalisations about education, financial costs, and body pain without clear or fully explained examples. Additionally, the response failed to meet the minimum length requirement, containing only 244 words against the required 250 words, which has been penalised accordingly under Task Achievement. These limitations restrict the score to Band 4.5.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0

The essay is divided into paragraphs, but the overall structure and logical progression are frequently disrupted by confusing transitions and unclear referencing. Words like 'Firstly' and 'Secondly' are used to introduce points, but the sentences that follow lack internal cohesion and clear relationships. For example, sentences such as 'However, once a year taking those kinds of medicines can not be affect as they can do in common use' are disjointed and difficult to follow. Pronoun referencing is also weak, making it hard to determine what terms like 'those people' or 'such kinds of desease' refer to. Paragraphing is attempted, but because the ideas within them are chaotic, the progression feels disjointed throughout. Overall, coherence aligns with Band 4.0 descriptors.

Lexical Resource — Band 4.0

The vocabulary used is basic, repetitive, and frequently inaccurate, which often strains the reader's understanding. The student uses incorrect word forms and awkward collocations throughout the text, such as 'health insecurites', 'local health desease', 'sleeping dose', 'diebitics plan', and 'self assumption medicine'. Spelling errors are also present, including 'diebitics', 'daibetic', 'healtheir', 'affective', and 'descion'. While the writer attempts to use topic-related terms like 'hospitalization', 'professional treatment', and 'alternative usage', the misuse of these terms prevents the vocabulary from being minimally adequate for an academic task. This places the response firmly within Band 4.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0

The grammatical range is extremely limited, and the text is heavily laden with frequent, severe errors that constantly impede communication. Simple sentence forms are poorly handled, and attempts at complex structures typically result in ungrammatical fragments and severe structural breakdowns, such as in the opening sentence: 'People who do not follow proper treatment plan instead using different sort of medicines result in health problems.' Other major errors include subject-verb agreement failures, missing articles, incorrect verb tenses, and fractured clause structures ('Financial budget can be valued for those who took descion for unnecessary things to make their for granted'). Because errors dominate almost every sentence and distort the meaning, the grammar warrants a Band 4.0.

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

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