Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-26
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)
In recent years, people having lot of health issues due to various reasons. Nowday, a growing percentage of people with health issue are tryping alternative mdicines and treatments rather visiting their usual doctors. I believe that this is a negative development because it can couse more health problems insted of getting well.
There are several reasons why i believe its a negative development. Firstly, people trying different alternative medicines and treatment to get well without visiting their doctors, which can make their health worst than before. People taking medicies
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 4.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 4.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 4.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 4.0 |
| Overall | 4.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0
The student attempts to address the prompt by stating a clear position that relying on alternative medicines is a negative development. However, the response is severely truncated, containing only 89 words compared to the minimum requirement of 250 words. Because the text breaks off mid-sentence and fails to develop any arguments or provide relevant examples, the task is addressed only minimally. Consequently, the response falls into the lower bands for Task Achievement. To improve, the candidate must fully explore their ideas with extended reasoning and examples, ensuring the full essay length is met.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5
The text demonstrates a basic attempt at paragraphing and sequencing, opening with an introduction and beginning a body paragraph. However, because the response cuts off abruptly after just a few sentences and incomplete thoughts, overall progression is lacking. Cohesive devices are minimal, with simple connectors like 'Firstly' introduced right before the text ends. Referencing is sometimes unclear, such as 'people having lot of health issues' leading straight into a fragmented argument. A much longer, fully structured essay is needed to demonstrate coherent organisation and effective logical progression.
Lexical Resource: Band 4.0
The vocabulary used is very basic and repetitive, featuring frequent spelling and word-choice errors. Examples of issues include 'Nowday' instead of nowadays, 'tryping' instead of trying, 'mdicines' instead of medicines, and 'couse' instead of cause. The range of vocabulary is limited and inadequate for an academic task, repeatedly recycling words like 'health', 'problems', 'medicines', and 'development'. To achieve a higher band score, the student needs to demonstrate a wider lexical range with accurate spelling and appropriate collocations suitable for academic writing.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.0
The grammatical structures attempted are very simple and contain frequent, basic errors that impede communication. For instance, the opening sentence 'In recent years, people having lot of health issues' lacks a main verb. There are also frequent spelling and agreement mistakes, such as 'making their health worst than before' instead of worse, and the text ends with an unfinished sentence fragment ('People taking medicies'). Complex sentence structures are absent or severely flawed. Greater control over basic sentence construction and accurate verb forms is required.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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