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)

At present time, a vast majority of people are more interested in using alternative medications and treatment faciities despite going to the expert doctor. I think it as a completely negative development because this mindset increases the likelihood of severe disease and waste huge proportion of money.

On the one hand, trying different type of local treatment can make people more susceptible to different severe disease. To begin with, taking medicine without professional doctor's prescription may create more health complexity. For example, local pharmacists ofthen push steriod injections in any kind of health complications, which can further affect the healthy organs of body. Additionally, using gastric medicines on a daily basis without certified doctor's recommendation may create long term health problem and it can accelerates further life threatning disease. Therefore, it is evident that taking medicines and treatment from any places without professional and experienced doctor will intensify the health complexity.

On the other hand, a number of individuals are investing their valuable money for taking faulty treatment and medications from local uncertified pharmacists, which significantly wasting their money. This is because, people are often investing their money behind imaginatory treatments. As a result, it causes[redacted phone] different health problems instead of curing them. For example, pharmacists frequently giving paracetamols, antibiotics, pain killers without any further thinking and based on their assumptions, which are very costly. But they can't cure every kind of disesase by assuming. That's how people are wasting their money and they are buying more health complications in this way.

In conclusion, I truly think that this kind of tendency of people to take medications and treatment without going to a specialized and professional doctor is truly a negative development. This not only increase the possibility of further health complexity but also wasting a lots of money.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear throughout: you consider replacing a usual doctor with alternative treatment a negative development. You address the task with two relevant concerns—possible harm to health and wasted money—and support them with examples such as unsupervised injections and medicines. This meets the task’s main requirements. However, the health argument is more developed than the financial one: the claim that treatments are “very costly” is asserted rather than illustrated, and the discussion sometimes shifts from alternative medicines to local pharmacists and unprescribed drugs without clarifying how these relate. To strengthen the response, explain what you mean by alternative treatments and develop each reason with a more precise example and explanation of its consequences.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction states your view, two body paragraphs present separate reasons, and the conclusion restates your position. Signposting such as “On the one hand,” “Additionally,” and “In conclusion” helps readers follow the argument. However, some linking feels mechanical, and ideas within the second body paragraph do not progress smoothly: the claim about wasted money is followed by “imaginatory treatments,” then a sentence containing “causes0000000,” which interrupts the flow. References such as “this” and “it” are occasionally unclear. Use fewer formulaic transitions and make the relationship between each example and its main point explicit; careful editing would also remove distracting text and improve continuity.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You attempt a range of topic-related vocabulary, including “susceptible,” “prescription,” “uncertified pharmacists,” and “health complications.” These choices show an effort to discuss medical risks rather than relying only on basic terms. However, inaccurate word choice, collocation, and spelling are noticeable and sometimes make the meaning less precise. Examples include “treatment faciities,” “imaginatory treatments,” “health complexity,” and “life threatning disease”; “medications and treatment” is also repeated frequently. Choose standard, precise expressions and check spelling carefully. In particular, distinguish alternative therapies from medicines supplied without a prescription, since these are not necessarily the same thing. More natural collocations would make your argument clearer and more convincing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You use both simple statements and longer sentences with clauses, for example, “This is because…” and “which can further affect…,” showing some range. The main ideas are generally understandable, but errors in agreement, verb forms, articles, and sentence construction recur. For instance, “it can accelerates” should use the base verb after “can,” while “which significantly wasting their money” needs a finite verb form. In the conclusion, “This not only increase” does not agree with its subject, and “but also wasting” does not match the structure of “not only.” Aim to make complex sentences more controlled, and proofread each sentence for a clear subject and correctly formed verb. This would improve accuracy without sacrificing variety.

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