Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-15

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 4.5)

The growing number of people suffering from health problems by trying the subsitute medicine and treatment quickly visiting to usual doctor . I think in this i have negative opinon towards development.

To commence with , most of people consume alternative medicines and treatment instead from usual doctor due to the high cost or such reasons .In this alternative medicines has alot of risk in life by taking wrong salt drug can be borrow your life so these type of medicine and treatment is riskful for life.While the unknowlege about critical desiese and treatment the usual doctor cannot help properly without taking better treatment so they can't handle this type of critical situation also not possible in usual doctor.

On the other hand some of the pharmasists can be prevent fraud with giving wrong medicine which prevent massive impact of life risk because they sold medicines without unregulated market licence and certified or unqualified to sell fake drugs to take huge money from patient.Alternative medicine can't be replacement of proper modern medical procedures required in huge risk and emergencies , such as blood requirement .

To conclude my thesis when we have normal desiese than we should concern with usual doctor and taking alternative medicines but in the case of emergency the first priority can be as medical experts and don't taking local medicines and treatment.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

You state a clear negative position in the introduction and conclusion, and you give relevant concerns about risks from unregulated medicines and the need for professional care in emergencies. However, the response only partially develops the task: the reasons are difficult to follow, and the claim that pharmacists can prevent fraud is not clearly connected to the question of choosing alternative treatment instead of a usual doctor. The example of blood being required is also too brief to support the point. The response is 24 words below the required minimum, which limits the space available to explain and illustrate your ideas. Develop two clear reasons and support each with a specific example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has an introduction, two body paragraphs and a conclusion, and signposts such as “To commence with,” “On the other hand” and “To conclude” show an attempt to guide the reader. However, the overall progression is not consistently clear. The second body paragraph shifts from the risks of alternative medicine to pharmacists and fake drugs, so the relationship between these points is hard to understand. Several sentences also combine multiple ideas without clear links, particularly the sentence beginning “While the unknowlege about critical desiese.” Use one main point per paragraph, explain how each supporting detail relates to your position, and use linking phrases only where they accurately show the relationship between ideas.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

You attempt topic-related vocabulary, including “alternative medicines,” “critical situation,” “unregulated market” and “medical procedures.” However, the range is basic and several spelling, word-form and collocation errors make parts of the argument difficult to understand. Examples include “subsitute medicine,” “riskful for life,” “wrong salt drug” and “massive impact of life risk.” Some expressions appear to mean something different from what you intend, such as “blood requirement.” Aim for accurate, natural phrases rather than using complex-sounding wording; for example, describe medicines as “potentially dangerous” and explain that they may cause “serious side effects.” Proofreading spelling and checking collocations would make your meaning clearer.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a conditional idea in “when we have normal desiese” and a contrast introduced by “On the other hand.” However, control is weak: frequent errors in sentence structure, verb forms, articles, agreement and punctuation sometimes obscure meaning. For example, “The growing number of people … by trying” is not a complete, well-formed opening sentence, while “Alternative medicine can't be replacement” is missing an article and has an incorrect grammatical pattern. The sentence beginning “While the unknowlege…” is also incomplete. Practise building accurate subject–verb sentences first, then add subordinate clauses, and check articles and sentence boundaries during proofreading.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.