Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-10

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)

Rising number of indivisuals, who having health issues are applying remedies and alternative medicines instead of getting treatment by exports in this modern era. In my opinion it is negative develepment. So, in the forthcoming paragraphs, I have suggested some reason behind this, and I have also supported my stand with the reasonable justifications.

Taking into account, first and foremost is, it can cause many side effects. Sometimes, trying home remedies can develop into huge problem for instance having an allergy by a particular vegetable and a person can neglect this so, it can cause serious disease. As a result, people can held their life into a trouble without knowing a accurate reason of their worsening of health.

Secondly, nowadays, technology create the best place among the whole world so, plethora of human being can treat themselves by watching videos for treatment at home, asking AI the reason behind their dull health can cause a sever problems such as wrong analysis, useless prescriptions and unusual symptoms. Therefore, people become very panic and assuming themselves have fewer life span and it also results as worsening of their health.

Now cosidering the positive impact of this trend, in this modern era, myriads of people have hectic schedule for visiting doctors. So, treating themselves by alternative medicines and treatment at home via home remedies or asking AI can save their time and it results good. Social media can provide plent of solutions so, they have many choices for selecting medicine according to their requirement and which are more suitable for sort time treatment too. Thus, people can invest their time in their work and treat themselves in a good way.

To conclude, trying alternatives cause several problems such as it may cause side-effects and worsening health by the influence of social media and AI, whereas it can be beneficial for people, who have workload and not having enough time for concerning exports.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is clear: you consider the trend negative, and you give relevant reasons, including possible side effects and the risks of relying on online videos or AI for health advice. You also acknowledge a benefit—saving time for people with busy schedules—so the response addresses both sides of the question. However, the negative case is not fully developed: the allergy example is unclear, and the discussion of AI-related anxiety needs a more specific explanation or example. The positive point is also brief and does not show when self-treatment might be appropriate or how it compares with professional care. Develop the reasons with clearer cause-and-effect explanations, then make your final judgement on balance more explicit.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for negative and positive effects, and a conclusion. This makes the main line of discussion easy to follow. You also use signposts such as “Firstly,” “Secondly,” and “To conclude.” However, some linking is mechanical, and several sentences join too many ideas with “so,” making the relationships less clear. For example, the paragraph about technology moves from videos and AI to incorrect advice, panic, and worsening health without clearly separating the steps in that argument. The conclusion also repeats earlier points rather than clearly weighing them. Use fewer formulaic transitions, make each paragraph develop one main idea, and use pronouns or linking phrases with clear references.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You attempt a range of topic-related vocabulary, including “side effects,” “alternative medicines,” “prescriptions,” and “hectic schedule,” which helps communicate the subject. There are also some less common expressions, such as “myriads” and “plethora,” but these are not always used naturally or accurately. Noticeable spelling and word-choice problems—such as “indivisuals,” “exports” for medical professionals, “sever problems,” and “sort time”—sometimes make the reader pause. Several phrases are also awkward, including “held their life into a trouble” and “create the best place among the whole world.” Aim for accurate, natural collocations rather than adding formal-sounding words; this will make your ideas clearer and more convincing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including clauses introduced by “who,” “whereas,” and “so,” and the overall meaning is usually recoverable. However, complex structures are often faulty, and errors in agreement, verb forms, articles, and sentence construction can make some passages difficult to follow. For example, “who having health issues are applying” lacks a correctly formed relative clause, while “technology create” has a subject–verb agreement error. In “people can held their life,” the verb form is incorrect, and “a accurate reason” has an article error. Some sentences also run together through repeated commas and “so.” Practise building shorter, complete sentences first, then combine ideas with accurate clauses and punctuation.

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