Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-11

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)

Nowdays, large number of people with health concerns are using third party medicines to cure their problem. I my opinion its a negative development because it may not work effetively and tends to cause side effects.

Firstly, it works ineffectively to cure the disease. Some treatments cannot cope with the human body parts properly, because it have less power to treat the medical issue. Therefore, it takes long time to overcome the medical problem than the expected time, during this time person undergo seviour illness. For exaple, homeophaty medical trent which use the natural products have less stamina to deal with the big health issue, so it takes much time treat. Hence, using this type of medicine delay the process.

secondly, effect the people health in the long run. The medicine which is not scientifically tested is very dangerous to people health, because it contains more chemicals and use cheap quality products to make it.So,by using such alternatives effects people immune sytem negatively, instead of treating the issuse. For example, using tribe medice cannot cope with the human body, which may leads to bad consequences. Hence, people should avoid using such replacements to stay health.

In conclusion, having personal choices to overcome the health issuse may have bad outcomes. In addition, it worse the people illness which may lead to death.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is clear from the introduction: you consider replacing a usual doctor with alternative treatments a negative development. You give two relevant reasons—treatment may be ineffective and may harm health—and include examples such as homeopathy. However, the explanation is brief and sometimes unclear: the claim that alternatives contain “more chemicals” or use “cheap quality products” is asserted without support, and the examples do not show a specific consequence. The conclusion repeats the negative view but adds little development. The response also contains 221 words, below the required 250, so the task is not fully completed. To strengthen the response, explain each reason with a clearer cause-and-effect chain and a more specific, credible example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, two body paragraphs signalled by “Firstly” and “secondly,” and a conclusion. This makes your main position and the two reasons easy to identify. Some linking is effective, including “Therefore” and “Hence,” but the repeated use of these transitions makes the progression feel mechanical, and several links simply restate the preceding point. The second paragraph’s opening, “effect the people health,” does not clearly express the relationship between the topic and the claim. There is also an unusually large gap before that paragraph. Use a wider range of natural connections, make each sentence add a distinct step to the argument, and check that pronouns and references clearly identify what they refer to.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “health concerns,” “side effects,” “scientifically tested,” and “immune system,” so the reader can follow the general subject. However, the range is limited and several inaccurate or misspelled expressions make the argument less clear, such as “third party medicines,” “homeophaty medical trent,” and “tribe medice.” Some combinations are also unnatural, including “less stamina to deal with” a health issue and “stay health.” Aim for accurate, conventional terms such as “alternative treatments,” “homeopathic remedies,” and “serious medical conditions.” Proofreading spelling and choosing precise collocations will make your meaning more reliable and help you express the health-related ideas with greater flexibility.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple sentences and longer cause-and-effect structures, for example, “Therefore, it takes long time to overcome the medical problem…” and “The medicine which is not scientifically tested…”. This shows some ability to connect clauses, but the range remains limited and errors are frequent enough to make parts difficult to read. Examples include “it have less power,” “person undergo,” and “which may leads,” where subject–verb agreement or verb forms are incorrect. Articles and sentence construction also need attention: “takes long time” requires an article, while “secondly, effect the people health” is not a complete, correctly formed sentence. Practise building accurate sentences with a clear subject and verb, then check agreement, articles, and punctuation.

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