Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-22

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)

I think it's a negative development that number of people with health problems are trying alternative medicine & treatment instead of visiting their usual doctor.

Various Factors are responsible for this development for example social media, What's App group's False spreading & old believes & religious aspects. Many people follow these suggestions without understanding the risks. As a result, serious conditions may go undiagnosed or untreated for too long.

I recall one of incidences about highly antibiotic resistance cases. One patient was diagnosed with MDR - multidrug resistance and that gut inflammation. Neither the broad-spectrum antibiotic nor narrow spectrum antibiotic were work on him. This has happened because of unnecessary intake of medicine.

Aother case was one patient suffered from cold and he was taking antibiotic without consulting his family doctor he took higher dose then stop for 2 days and continue with the remain higher dose medicine without knowing that MIC - minimum inhibitory concentration. That not every time one required higher doses. According to the symptoms doctors prescribes drug with required concentration. and if that particular concentration does not work then only they goes towards higher doses. I know some traditional therapy sometimes offer mild relief with proper safety . However, Replacing the highly qualified doctors with risk is inappropriate.

In my opinion one should never take medicine with any doctor's taking any doctor's consultancy. Because it may causes adverse disease or some time organ failure. One should consult with doctor and strictly follow the guidelines and should regularly take prescribed medicine.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is clear from the opening: you consider replacing a usual doctor with alternative treatment a negative development. You give relevant reasons, including misinformation on social media and the risk of delayed or inappropriate treatment, and the examples about antibiotic use support your concern. However, the discussion is only partly developed: the two medical cases are difficult to follow, and the point that some traditional therapies may offer mild relief is not explained or weighed against your main view. The response also contains 245 words, five below the required minimum; the nine words copied from the prompt are excluded from this count. Develop one example more clearly and add a fuller explanation of your position to meet the task requirements.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an opinion, reasons and examples, followed by a concluding recommendation. Linking phrases such as “As a result,” “However,” and “In my opinion” help signal relationships between ideas. Nevertheless, progression is uneven because the examples are presented in long, crowded sections, and the connection between antibiotic resistance, the cold case and alternative medicine is not always explicit. The final paragraph repeats the advice to consult a doctor rather than drawing the main points together. Use separate, focused paragraphs for each reason, and make the link between each example and your argument clear. This would improve the organisation and reduce the sense of repetition.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You attempt relevant topic vocabulary, including “alternative medicine,” “broad-spectrum antibiotic,” “multidrug resistance,” and “minimum inhibitory concentration.” These terms show an effort to discuss the issue specifically rather than relying only on general language. However, the range is limited by repeated wording such as “doctor,” “medicine” and “higher doses,” while inaccurate or unclear expressions sometimes make the meaning difficult to understand. Examples include “old believes,” “False spreading,” and “Replacing the highly qualified doctors with risk.” Spelling and word-form errors also occur, such as “Aother” and “incidences.” Choose more precise, natural collocations and check spelling; explain technical terms only when they directly support your point.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You use some sentence variety, including a complex cause-and-effect sentence beginning “As a result” and the contrast introduced by “However.” The main position is generally understandable, but grammatical errors are frequent and sometimes make the examples hard to follow. For instance, “Neither the broad-spectrum antibiotic nor narrow spectrum antibiotic were work on him” has problems with article use, agreement and verb form; “doctors prescribes” also has subject–verb disagreement. Several sentences run together, particularly the account of the patient who changed his dose, and the final paragraph contains the repeated structure “with any doctor's taking any doctor's consultancy.” Practise accurate simple sentences first, then build longer sentences with clear subjects, verbs and punctuation.

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