Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-06

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, a increasing number of people with health problems are trying alternative medicines and treatment instead of visiting their usual doctor.while this trend offer a personal control over health.I believe it is a negative development.

Nowadays,number of people are use alternative medicines and treatment for some kind of small health problems.People are use medicines for headeche,fever,digest etc. They affect the our body and generate new health problems like diabites,cancer etc.Alternative medicines and treatment are use for travilling and emergancy need of medicines. Do not use in regular basis. Many alternative medicines and treatment are use some chamical and they have unkown side effect in our body.Doctors are saying do not use medicines without asking any doctor.

However, the use of alternative medicines are highly dangerous.For example, serious diseases like cancer require early treatment and advanced technology.If patient tries to treat server home medicines and treatment, the candition become untreatable and more costly.There are many side effects like skin problems, etc.

Government are giving ads to newspaper,TV, mobile phone etc. for do not use alternative medicines and treatment instead of visiting doctor.Government are running many campaign.Alternative medicines are effect health problems for some time after than health problems are still continuous.Many people are believe to do not use alternative medicines.

In conclusion, although alternative therapies provide a cheaper and more natural approach to healthcare, they cannot replace modern science. Because these treatments lack proper regulation and can delay critical medical interventions, this growing trend poses a significant threat to public health.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

First, please note that the response contains 239 words, meaning the length requirement was not met because it is 11 words short of the 250-word minimum (excluding 11 words copied directly from the task prompt). Regarding task response, the student addresses the prompt by expressing a clear position that relying on alternative medicines is a negative development. However, the ideas remain limited and under-developed. For example, the body paragraphs list simple ailments like 'headeche, fever, digest' and make sweeping claims without sufficient elaboration or concrete examples. The argument lacks fully extended supporting details, which keeps the response at this partial level of task fulfilment.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response demonstrates some organisation with distinct paragraph breaks, but there is no clear overall progression of ideas throughout the text. Cohesive devices are used awkwardly or repetitively, such as the frequent repetition of 'Nowadays' at the beginning of sentences and paragraphs, and abrupt transitions like 'However, the use of alternative medicines are highly dangerous' when introducing already discussed concepts. Referencing is sometimes unclear, and the logical flow between sentences is occasionally disrupted by mechanical phrasing and disjointed ideas, preventing the essay from achieving a smooth and logical progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The lexical resource is limited but minimally adequate for the task. The student attempts some less common vocabulary, such as 'alternative medicines', 'intervention', and 'healthcare', but these are offset by noticeable errors in word choice, word form, and spelling. For instance, words like 'headeche', 'diabites', 'travilling', 'emergancy', 'chamical', 'server', and 'candition' appear throughout the text. Furthermore, unnatural collocations such as 'treat server home medicines' cause some difficulty for the reader and impede smooth communication at times.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The writer demonstrates a very limited range of structures, relying primarily on simple sentences alongside faulty attempts at more complex forms. Frequent grammatical errors occur throughout the text, including article misuse ('a increasing number', 'the our body'), subject-verb agreement errors ('Government are giving', 'Many people are believe'), and incorrect verb forms ('People are use', 'medicines are use'). Punctuation and capitalization issues are also present, such as missing spaces after periods and commas. These frequent errors cause significant difficulty for the reader and reflect a restricted control of basic grammatical patterns.

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