Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-26

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)

In present times, an increased number of patients are choosing alternative medicines and treatments in liew of taking treatment from their common doctors due to many reasons. Many people believe that they are getting several benefits from these treatments. I strongly disaggree to this point because of some logical and legal reasons.

In general, people normally take treatments from their usual doctor while they are sick or ill. But many people are interested to avail medicines from some herbal and village doctors for certain reasons. As medical and doctor's fees are higher, many patients try to search alternate way of treatment. Therefore, they wish to go some unauthorised doctors as well as herbal practitioners. In my country, Bangladesh; here, a large number of poor people take treatments from herbal doctors or Kobiraj( one kind of unauthorised doctor). The main problem is that most of unregistered kobirajs or doctors have no medical knowledge while they are caring their clients. As a result, many patients do not get proper treatment and sometimes many of them are died. For example, if you go to the remote village, you will find many uneducated people still believe in ghosts or some goddes. Insteas of going to the doctors, they are taking treatment from Moulvi or Kobiraj.

Furthermore, people should not take treatment from unauthorised doctors or should not follow alternate way. It may bring a serious health issue which turns a patient even to death. As this treatment is not approved by the government or proper authorities, their diognosis process is mostly wrong and inaccurate. Most of unregistered doctors give treatment without diognosis or identifying actual diseases. Therefore, many patients have to face problems. For example, if a child is beated by snake, most of the villagers take him to Kobiraj instead of taking to hospitals. As a result, many patients are died lack of conciousness.

In conclusion, it is very significant for those people who try to find alternate treatment, please do not go to the illiterate doctors or kobirajs which may destroy your life. I think that government can take proper initiatives to stop illegal medical practices.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear: you consider replacing a usual doctor with alternative treatment a negative development, and you support this with relevant examples from Bangladesh, including unregistered kobirajs and the snakebite scenario. You also suggest government action in the conclusion. However, the discussion focuses mainly on unqualified or illegal practitioners, so it does not fully distinguish these from alternative treatments that may be used alongside professional medical care. Some claims, such as patients dying after receiving such treatment, would be more convincing with clearer explanation or careful qualification. Develop the reasons more evenly and address the wording of the question directly by explaining why choosing alternatives instead of a usual doctor is harmful.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, two body paragraphs and a conclusion. The ideas generally progress from reasons people seek alternatives to the risks involved, and examples help illustrate the argument. Linking expressions such as “As a result,” “Furthermore” and “In conclusion” make relationships between points visible. At times, however, the progression is repetitive: both body paragraphs return to the danger of unregistered practitioners and death without clearly separating the risks or developing a new aspect. Some references are also unclear, as in “here” after “In my country, Bangladesh.” Organise each body paragraph around a distinct reason and use more precise references to improve flow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of topic vocabulary, including “herbal practitioners,” “unregistered,” “diagnosis” and “medical knowledge,” which helps communicate the central argument. There are also attempts at more formal phrasing, such as “proper authorities” and “medical practices.” However, inaccurate word choice, spelling and collocation are noticeable and sometimes make the writing less natural: “in liew of,” “alternate way,” “diognosis,” and “patients are died” are examples. Some expressions are also imprecise, such as “common doctors” and “beated by snake.” Aim for accurate, natural combinations and check spelling carefully; this would make your vocabulary more effective without needing unnecessarily complex words.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including clauses introduced by “while,” “as” and “if.” This gives the response some structural variety, and the main argument is usually understandable. However, errors in sentence construction and verb forms recur. For example, “many of them are died” and “many patients are died” use an incorrect passive form; “if a child is beated by snake” also has an incorrect verb form and article pattern. The sentence “In my country, Bangladesh; here…” is not correctly joined, and “people should not take treatment … or should not follow” has an unclear grammatical relationship. Practise accurate past and passive forms, articles, and sentence boundaries while retaining your attempts at complex structures.

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