Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-03
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 recent time, the importance of technology is increasing rapidly. Therefore, all factors are developed by using modern technology. Moreover, people have busy schedules in their daily lives. As a result, they can not do regular exercise. That is why health problems are increasing significantly. In my opinion, people should visiting their usual doctor instead of using alternative medicines or treatments. I think this is a negative development.
On the one hand, older people can not easily adapt new trends because of they try to solve their health problem with alternative medicines such as ayurvedic tablets, exercise, and indigenous medicine. But, nowadays the issue of health problems are growing rapidly because of eating too much junk food, and not drinking enough water. In addition, health plays an important role in people's life therefore people should visiting their family doctor when they face health problems.
On the other hand, health issues may make more serious, if people can not be solve it quickly. For instance, the ratio of cancer, and dengue becoming more serious in their lives, so during this issues people can not solve this by using alternative medicines and treatments. Therefore, visiting their usual doctor earlier that is best step for their better health.
In conclusion, social trends, and modern technology plays an important role in modern medicines and treatments. Doctors can take care more easily their patient with the use of better medicines. However, some people can not trust it. In my view, people should visit their usual doctor if they face health problems.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The response addresses the prompt by expressing a clear position that relying on alternative medicine is a negative development. However, the development of ideas is limited and sometimes tangential, particularly in the introduction where the student discusses technology and busy schedules rather than focusing directly on alternative medicines. While the main body paragraphs attempt to provide reasons, such as older people struggling with new trends or serious illnesses requiring medical intervention, these ideas remain somewhat under-developed and lack specific, well-supported examples. The arguments tend to generalise rather than fully explore the implications of choosing alternative treatments over conventional doctors, placing the response firmly at this level where the task is addressed only partially and ideas require greater depth and extension.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0
The essay displays some overall organization with clear paragraph breaks separating the introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. However, there is a lack of clear overall progression between the ideas, making the logical flow somewhat disjointed. Cohesive devices are used, but they are frequently repetitive or mechanically applied, such as the frequent starting of sentences and paragraphs with transition words like 'Moreover', 'As a result', and 'In addition'. Referencing is also occasionally unclear, and the links between sentences do not always create a smooth, natural progression of thought. Paragraphing is present, but internal cohesion within the paragraphs needs careful strengthening to guide the reader more effectively through the argument.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student uses a limited but minimally adequate range of vocabulary for the task. There are noticeable lexical errors in word choice, collocation, and word form that cause some difficulty for the reader, such as writing 'people should visiting' instead of 'visit', 'adapt new trends' instead of 'adopt', and stating that health issues 'make more serious' rather than 'become more serious'. Attempts to use less common vocabulary, such as 'indigenous medicine' or 'conventional' concepts, are hindered by inaccurate phrasing and awkward collocations. Spelling is generally acceptable, but the frequent inaccuracies in lexical items restrict the precision and clarity of the writing.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The grammatical range is limited, relying mostly on simple and repetitive sentence patterns. When the writer attempts complex sentences, they are often faulty, featuring frequent errors in verb forms, tenses, and grammatical structures. Examples include 'people can not do regular exercise', 'older people can not easily adapt new trends because of they try', and 'during this issues people can not solve this'. There are also frequent errors with subject-verb agreement and prepositions within grammatical patterns, such as 'plays an important role in people's life'. These frequent errors create noticeable strain and can cause difficulty for the reader in following the intended meaning.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.