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 times, an increased number of individuals with health issues use different remedies at home instead of consulting a medical specialist. In my opinion, this is largely a negative development because it can further degrade their health.

Nowadays, many people without any experience in medical field use alternative medicines as their own. The primary cause of this development is the increase in the fee of consulting a doctor. When people are unable to pay such a huge amount of money in medical expenses, they try out a tablet or a dose which they previously used for the same disease. For example, people in rural areas of pakistan make exessive use of Panadol tablet in case of having fever, headache or flu. Sometimes they don't even check the expiray date of the dose they are taking. Therefore, these developments are discouraged because they can cause severve health problems in the long terms. It can lead to severve medical problems such as failture of kidneys or leaver due to use of wrong medication over a long period of time.

Secondly, this situation can lead to a bad reputation of medical professionals in the society. People often visit a doctor for once and then continue to use the same medication for a certain period of time without any check ups or tests. Thus, in case of a worsen medical condition, they blame the doctor for all of this happenings. As a result, public hold a negative review about specific institutes and the staff working there, which can affect their career and livelihood.

In conclusion, the use medication without proper checkup and consultation from a certified doctor is a bad trend which can pave the way for more diseases and the outcomes of this phenomenan can potray a bad image of professional medical staff.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task, presenting a clear position that the trend is a negative development. Relevant ideas are presented, such as the financial reasons behind self-medication and the potential risks to health and professional reputations. However, some ideas are under-developed or lack extension. For instance, the example about people in rural areas of Pakistan making excessive use of Panadol is introduced, but its connection to the broader argument is not fully explored. To move to a higher level, the writer needs to extend supporting details more thoroughly and ensure all main points are given equal, robust development throughout the essay.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear stance established in the introduction and reinforced in the conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different arguments, such as health risks in the second body paragraph and reputational damage in the third. However, cohesion at times feels mechanical or faulty. Transitional phrases like 'Secondly' are used, but referencing and linking within paragraphs can be slightly unclear, such as the abrupt transition between sentences discussing expiry dates and long-term organ failure. To achieve a higher band, the writer must employ a wider range of cohesive devices more smoothly and ensure seamless logical progression between sentences without relying on repetitive connectors.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'consulting a medical specialist', 'excessive use', and 'livelihood'. However, there are noticeable limitations in lexical range and accuracy. The writer makes several word choice, collocation, and word form errors that occasionally impede smooth reading, such as writing 'medical field' instead of 'the medical field', 'expiray date' for expiry date, 'severve' for severe, and 'failture of kidneys or leaver' for failure of kidneys or liver. Furthermore, phrases like 'this happenings' and 'use medication without proper checkup' demonstrate awkward phrasing. To improve, the writer should focus on mastering word forms, spelling, and natural collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures such as conditional and subordinate clauses, as seen in 'When people are unable to pay such a huge amount of money in medical expenses, they try out a tablet...'. There are some errors in grammar, punctuation, and article usage, such as 'an increased number of individuals... use' (subject-verb agreement), 'in case of having fever' (missing article), 'public hold a negative review' (singular/plural mismatch), and capitalization errors like 'pakistan'. Fortunately, these errors rarely impede overall communication. To reach the next level, the writer needs to produce a higher frequency of error-free sentences using a wider variety of complex structures with tighter control over articles and prepositions.

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