Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-28

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)

In the modern era of technology, an increasing number of people have started to treat their health conditions on their own without visitng an expert physician. This new trend have its own pros and cons however i belive that visiting a specialized docter is comparatively accurate method of treatment.

It can be argued that the other alternatives such as AI bots can safe people from the difficulties of booking an appointment and waiting for weeks for a normal check-up. As a result, it saves people's time and keeps them from the efforts of waiting in long queues.

Another significant advantage of the altervatives is their buget friendliness which makes it affordable for the poor class as well. People tend to save their money from the expenses of travelling to clynic as well as buying the expensive medications advised by the doctor. Thus, a growing number of people are avoiding the traditional methods of cure for various health problems such as physical, psychological and mental conditions.

however, the hidden reality of these alternatives is that they are not as relaibale and trust-worthy as compared to a well trained physician.

Ai bots makes mistakes and can often mislead people into taking wrong medications. Further more, visiting a personal doctor on daily baisis can help the experts undertsand their paitent s problem more effectively. Resulting in fast, better and on-time treatment.

In the conclusion, it can be said that the other ways of treatment can be proved good for minor diseases however, to treat major health issues and keep one's body safe, it is more better to visit an expert.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both the pros and cons of using alternative treatments like AI bots and home remedies instead of seeing a doctor, and clearly states a personal position that seeing a specialist is more accurate. Ideas are extended and supported, such as mentioning time-saving and budget-friendliness as advantages, and unreliability as a disadvantage. However, there is a slight tendency to over-generalise regarding the capabilities of AI bots and the financial status of patients. While the discussion is relevant and meets all core task requirements, further depth and specific examples from personal experience would be needed to reach a higher band. Overall, the task response demonstrates a clear understanding of the prompt and maintains a consistent viewpoint throughout.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear progression of ideas from advantages to disadvantages, followed by a logical conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different points, such as discussing time-saving in one paragraph and budget-friendliness in another. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical, as seen in transitions like 'It can be argued that the other alternatives' and the improper lowercase start in 'however, the hidden reality'. Referencing is generally clear, but transitional phrases could be varied and managed more flexibly to achieve a smoother flow between sentences and paragraphs.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'specialized docter', 'budget friendliness', and 'physician'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'visitng', 'have' instead of 'has', 'belive', 'docter', 'safe' instead of 'save', 'altervatives', 'buget', 'clynic', 'relaibale', 'trust-worthy', 'baisis', 'paitent', and 'more better'. These errors reflect spelling inaccuracies and slight word formation issues, though they do not impede overall communication. To improve, the student needs to focus on spelling precision and natural collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at complex structures such as 'An increasing number of people have started to treat their health conditions on their own without visitng an expert physician.' However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement ('This new trend have', 'Ai bots makes'), missing articles, and punctuation or capitalization issues ('however, the hidden reality'). The sentence 'it is more better to visit an expert' contains a double comparative error. While these errors occur regularly, they rarely impede communication, placing the grammar firmly in the Band 5.5 to 6.0 range.

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