Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-30

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 recent years, the numerous people face with health issues are trying different medicines and treatments rather then visiting their usual doctors. i will discuss the reasons and given relevant examples in the upcoming paragraphs.

on the one hand, there are several reasons for proplr do not visit their doctor. frist and formost is that people taken medicine from medication strore due to the fact that minor health problems such cuff,cold,fever and also headache. another reason is that people are using social media apps. and watch short videos realted to healthcare and try to use home remedies. moreover, also homeopathic medicines. it is not expensive and do not wait for long time to the hospital. threfore, individuals can not visit to the doctor. and do not take proper treatment realted to health problems.

furthermore, there are many negative development on body. firstly, those people do not take labortary tested. due to doctor prescribe medical test according to health issues.secondly, do not eat medicine without doctor suggestion because it is harmful for wholw body. some medicines are negative impact on body parts such as recations and use of quantity. finally, people use of social media apps and after watching the videos make medicine at home. in this situtaion, individuals do not know about the quantity and who people can take the medicines owing to doctoe prescribe medicines according to weight and health. all people have different consuming average. as a consequence, people should aviod medicine from medicial stores, social influencers, and home remedies. it is harmful for body.

in conclusion. although, there are positive development only for minor health issues such headache, body ache and cuff. but there are negative impact on body . without doctor prescripition some medicines are caught serious disease such as cancer and infections.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You take a generally clear negative position, especially when explaining that self-treatment may bypass tests and lead to harmful medication use. The examples of social-media advice, home remedies, and medicines taken without a doctor’s guidance are relevant to the question. However, the opening promises to discuss “the reasons” rather than directly stating whether this is positive or negative, and the essay spends substantial space explaining why people choose alternatives instead of developing the consequences of that choice. The brief concession about minor ailments is not fully explained, and the conclusion introduces serious diseases without showing how self-treatment could cause or delay their diagnosis. Develop fewer points with clearer cause-and-effect support, and state your position directly from the beginning.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion, and the body paragraphs broadly separate reasons for choosing alternatives from their possible harms. Linking expressions such as “on the one hand,” “furthermore,” and “as a consequence” help signal relationships. However, progression within paragraphs is often difficult to follow: the first body paragraph moves from pharmacy medicines to social media, homeopathy, cost, and waiting times without clearly connecting each point. Several transitions are mechanical or awkward, and sentence fragments such as “and watch short videos” interrupt the flow. The conclusion also begins with “although” but does not complete a clear contrast. Group related ideas, use complete sentences, and make each paragraph’s main point explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “home remedies,” “health issues,” “medical test,” and “prescribe,” which helps communicate the subject. There are also attempts to express more specific ideas, such as medicines having an impact on body parts. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, sometimes making meaning unclear: “people taken medicine from medication store,” “negative development on body,” and “different consuming average” are difficult to interpret. Spelling errors such as “labortary,” “recations,” and “prescripition” are noticeable. Build a reliable set of health-related collocations and check spelling; for example, distinguish between taking over-the-counter medicine and receiving a prescription.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple statements and longer sentences with reasons, including “because minor health problems…” and “owing to doctor prescribe medicines…”. However, control is inconsistent, and many sentences contain errors in verb forms, agreement, articles, or sentence boundaries. For example, “the numerous people face with health issues are trying” has an incorrect verb pattern, while “people taken medicine” lacks the appropriate verb form. Fragments such as “moreover, also homeopathic medicines” and “and do not take proper treatment” make relationships between ideas unclear. Capitalisation and punctuation are also unreliable, including lowercase sentence openings and full stops that split connected clauses. Practise accurate basic sentence patterns first, then add subordinate clauses while checking each sentence has a subject and a correctly formed verb.

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