Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

Certain argue, people choose alternative for cure disease such as a medicines and treatments rather than physically visiting to doctors. I believe that is negative develpoment because of it can cause serious illness.

Main reason it that many serious disease require scientifically tested diagnosis and treatment. People usually use traditional medicines and practises because early people always believe in ayurvedice medicines. It leads to serious and considerable illness. For instance, patient with cancer. if they use alternative medicines and treatments it can be impact on their long-term lives. Unproven home remedy insead of appropriate medical treatment may delay effective care. As a result, the illness could progress and become more difficult to treat.

Another concern is that some alternative treatment may not have sufficient scientific evidence to demonstarte their effectiveness. People assume that treatment is safe simply because it is discribed as natural. For instance, certain herbal produvts can intertact with precribed medicies or cause unwanted effects. Consequently, using such products without prpfessional advice may creat additional health risk.

A sensible approch is therefore to allow people to use complementary thera[ies where appropriate, while convectional medical treatment should remain primary option for serious conditions. Patients should also discuss alternative treatment with qulified healthcare professionals.

In conclusion, alternative medicines and treatments can cause serious harm to serious disease and it should be replace with the proper scientifically tested diagnosis and treatment. Some small disease can use convectional medical treatment becaue it convinent and reliable in some cases but it should be discuss with doctor.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student addresses the prompt by clearly stating a position that the trend is a negative development, citing the risks of untreated serious illnesses and potential interactions with conventional medicines. The main ideas are generally relevant, but the development is somewhat limited and repetitive. For example, the point about serious diseases requiring scientific diagnosis is repeated in the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Furthermore, some arguments lack full expansion or rely on broad generalisations. While the position is understandable throughout, the overall development corresponds best to the Band 6 descriptor, where relevant ideas are presented but some parts remain under-developed or repetitive.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear paragraph structure separating the introduction, body arguments, and conclusion. Basic cohesive devices are used, such as 'Main reason is that', 'Another concern is that', and 'In conclusion'. However, referencing and logical transitions are occasionally faulty or mechanical, as seen in abrupt sentence transitions ('For instance, patient with cancer. if they use alternative medicines...'). Paragraphing is generally used sufficiently and appropriately, but the flow within paragraphs is sometimes disrupted by phrasing errors and punctuation issues. These features place the response firmly at Band 6.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student attempts an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, incorporating terms such as 'scientifically tested diagnosis', 'complementary therapies', and 'conventional medical treatment'. However, there are frequent spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'develpoment' instead of development, 'ayurvedice' instead of Ayurvedic, 'insead' instead of instead, 'demonstarte' instead of demonstrate, 'discribed' instead of described, 'produvts' instead of products, 'intertact' instead of interact, 'prpfessional' instead of professional, 'creat' instead of create, 'approch' instead of approach, 'convectional' instead of conventional, 'thera[ies' instead of therapies, 'qulified' instead of qualified, and 'convinent' instead of convenient. While these errors do not completely impede communication, their frequency prevents the score from reaching Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'People usually use traditional medicines and practises because early people always believe in ayurvedice medicines.' However, grammatical accuracy is weak, featuring frequent errors in subject-verb agreement, sentence fragments ('For instance, patient with cancer. if they use alternative medicines...'), missing articles, and awkward phrasing ('Some small disease can use convectional medical treatment becaue it convinent and reliable'). Punctuation errors are also notable. Because errors are frequent and occasionally cause difficulty for the reader, the grammar performance aligns with Band 5.0 descriptors.

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