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)

Nowadays, the number of people who have health problems are tryin alternative medicine and treatments instead visiting their usual doctor. In my opinion, i believe that development have positive and negative aspects.

Firstly, i think people should visit their doctor to now and mention their diseases, because people may not now the specific problem where is it and could ues traditional medicine without knowing problem where is it. also doctors can have advice for people and guide them to better solutions to recover their health. Moreover, people should visit doctors when the diseases get worse, in this period the doctors are the best solution than alternative medicine, because doctors can follow your situation very good. Also doctors are useful in many situations, for example, the baybs, parents they can't describe the problem of child and must take it to clinics to now his problems.

By contrast, alternative medicine can help people especially in basic diseases such as stomic and head diseases, for example people can use some herbs are useful than doctors medicine. Furthermore, some people hate the doctors and chemical treatment, so they use now different methods of medcines like sport, for example they goes to the swim park to to avoide back and other bones problems. Also, some societies love to do yoga and relaxing exercise to avoid sadness problems they find it useful more than clinics.

Finally, people must mention their diseases wisely and chose the best solution between doctors or alternative treatments and tgis depend on dangerous degree.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address the question by presenting both benefits of seeing a doctor and possible advantages of alternative treatments, and your conclusion recommends choosing according to the seriousness of the condition. However, the task asks whether this is a positive or negative development, and your opening says it has “positive and negative aspects” without making a clear overall judgement. Several points are relevant but under-developed: for example, you mention herbs for stomach or head problems and yoga for sadness, but do not explain when these approaches are safe or why they might be preferable. State a definite position and support it with clearer explanations or examples, especially about the risks of replacing medical care.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, a paragraph about doctors, a contrasting paragraph about alternative treatments, and a conclusion. “Firstly,” “Moreover,” and “By contrast” help signal the main stages, so the reader can follow the broad direction. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear, and several points are joined together without showing their precise relationship. The example about babies, for instance, is difficult to connect to the preceding claim about doctors, while the final sentence introduces a recommendation that could have been established earlier. Use clearer topic sentences, group related examples, and make references such as “this period” and “they” more precise to improve cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some vocabulary relevant to the topic, including “alternative medicine,” “chemical treatment,” “recover their health,” and “relaxing exercise.” These choices show that you can communicate the general subject, but the range is limited and several word-choice, spelling, and collocation errors make parts difficult to understand. Examples include “stomic and head diseases,” “the swim park,” and “mention their diseases”; these do not express the intended ideas naturally. Spelling errors such as “medcines” and “avoide” also reduce accuracy. Build a more precise set of health-related expressions and check spelling, while choosing terms that distinguish symptoms, conditions, treatments, and medical advice.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt to use both simple and longer sentences, including clauses with “because,” “when,” and “so,” but control is inconsistent. Errors in agreement and verb forms appear in “the number of people … are tryin” and “they goes,” while sentence construction is faulty in “people can use some herbs are useful.” Articles, pronouns, and punctuation also need attention; for example, “the baybs, parents they can't describe” is difficult to parse, and several sentences run together after full stops. These errors sometimes make the intended meaning hard to follow. Practise building accurate basic sentences first, then add one subordinate clause at a time, checking subject–verb agreement and sentence boundaries.

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