Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-30

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)

Nowadays, Peoples go for alternative medicine or treatments rahther than they visit the usual doctor because they think this is cheaper and if they visit actual doctor they pay more. This is not good approach for treatment. Many people argue on this but in my opinion its a negative development because its effect the health and also effect financially.

Firstly i will discuss what effects are made on health if people dont go to actual doctor.The health of peoples effected because the person who is not a actual doctor how he can diganose the issue.for example if a person have kidney issue. He will not go to actual kidney doctor for treatment then the the unusual doctore or pharmasist just hear about issue not fully dignose and give medicine accroding to what he hear. That medicine doest not cure the issue it can cause for more issues like kidney may be failed. so i think if that person go to actual doctor for treatment this will save his life.

secondly this negative development can effect financially because if a person go to pharmasist for tratment the pharmasist does not dignose actual problem because he has no knowledge about how to dignose issue. for example is a person have a heart issue and his bp is high everyday he go to pharmasist and take medicine for High blood pressure issue then after taking medicine issue is still not resolve and the patient have face a hear attack and then actual doc dignose and do operate of heart vessels that are blocked.Means that the time when the person taking medicine from pharmasist he will pay for this as well after few time then result is he pay more for actual reason of high blood pressure soo this will effect that person financially as well.

in conclusion i believe its a negative development when people go to pharmasist for medicine and treatment instead of viting thier actual doctor.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The student addresses the prompt by taking a clear negative position regarding the trend of using alternative medicines instead of visiting a doctor. The ideas presented are relevant, focusing on the potential health risks and financial consequences of misdiagnosis by unqualified practitioners such as pharmacists. However, the development of ideas tends to be repetitive and limited. For example, the student discusses how a pharmacist cannot properly diagnose a kidney or heart issue, but the explanation circles around the same points without adding broader perspectives or deeper analysis. Furthermore, the term 'alternative medicines' in the prompt is conflated with consulting pharmacists, which slightly narrows the scope of the discussion. Overall, the response addresses all parts of the task with sufficient clarity, aligning well with the Band 5 descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The essay is organized into distinct paragraphs, including an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a brief conclusion, which shows an underlying structure. However, the overall progression is hindered by frequent mechanical and repetitive use of cohesive devices, such as 'Firstly i will discuss', 'secondly', and 'for example'. Paragraphing is attempted, but internal cohesion within paragraphs is weak. For instance, sentences run together without adequate punctuation or conjunctions, making the flow disjointed. Referencing is also sometimes unclear, with pronouns lacking precise antecedents. Despite these flaws, there is a clear overall arrangement and identifiable progression of arguments, which is characteristic of Band 5.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive, frequently reusing terms like 'actual doctor', 'pharmasist', 'treatement', and 'dignose' (misspelled as 'diganose' and 'dignose'). The range of vocabulary is limited and minimally adequate for discussing health and financial impacts. There are noticeable spelling errors throughout the text ('rahther', 'effected' instead of 'affected', 'accroding', 'doest', 'tratment', 'viting'), which occasionally cause some difficulty for the reader. While the student attempts to use topic-specific terms like 'high blood pressure' and 'heart vessels', the frequent lexical inaccuracies and lack of flexibility place this response firmly in the Band 5 category.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.0

The student demonstrates a very limited range of sentence structures, relying heavily on simple sentences and basic complex forms that are frequently faulty. There are constant grammatical errors throughout the response, including missing articles ('if a person have kidney issue'), subject-verb agreement errors ('the health of peoples effected'), incorrect verb forms ('the time when the person taking medicine'), and run-on sentences. Punctuation and capitalization are largely neglected, particularly at the beginning of sentences and with the pronoun 'i'. These frequent errors create considerable strain for the reader and reflect the characteristics of a Band 4 performance.

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

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