Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-11-01

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 today's world many individuals are consuming drugs or medicines without the prescription of the doctor. I believe, it is a negative development as it may promote overdose of a medicine and could lead to serious health problems.

Doctors examine patients body before giving the specific medicines. Human bodies are extremely sensitive towards wrong medicine or overdose of any drug as it can cause serious health problems in future. For example, in South Asia it is quiet common for people to take medicines without the prescription of a doctor due to this many individuals have build resilience toward antibiotics. Without consulting doctor alternative treatments can also be detrimental for your health and can contribute to severe gut problems.

Athough, there are some exceptions. In many countries you need to take appointment months before visiting a doctor and waiting time usually encourages people to take medicines on there own, however; in that case individuals can take medicines for normal headache or flu within the appropriate dose. In addition, many people also avoid doctors just because the charges to see a doctor are quiet high and it can somehow be solved by visiting government hospitals as they are often free or charge less.

Overall, I am driven to conclusion that long appointments and high charges of doctors provokes individuals to take medicines on there own, nevertheless the risking of taking medicines on your own is not worthwhile and can cause health problems.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is clear: you consider self-treatment a negative development because incorrect use of medicines can cause harm. You support this with relevant points about antibiotic resistance and health risks, and you acknowledge pressures such as long waits and high fees. However, the response only partly develops the question: it shifts from alternative medicines and treatments to taking medicines without a prescription, which does not fully address the range of alternatives in the prompt. The examples are also brief, and the final paragraph largely repeats earlier points rather than extending your reasoning. The response is 10 words below the required minimum. To strengthen the answer, explain more fully why alternative treatments may be unsafe and support your claims with a specific example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction states your view, the body paragraphs present risks and reasons people self-medicate, and the conclusion restates your position. This makes the main line of argument understandable. Some connections, however, are mechanical or unclear. For example, “Although, there are some exceptions” is not smoothly linked to the preceding paragraph, and the long sentence beginning “In many countries” combines waiting times, self-medication, and appropriate doses without clearly separating the ideas. The conclusion also repeats the earlier points rather than drawing them together. Use clearer topic sentences and divide complex points into shorter units; make sure each linking phrase accurately shows the relationship between ideas.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “overdose,” “antibiotics,” “alternative treatments,” and “government hospitals,” which helps communicate the subject. There are also attempts at more formal phrasing, such as “detrimental” and “driven to conclusion.” However, the range is somewhat limited, with repeated references to “medicines” and “health problems,” and several word-choice or collocation errors reduce naturalness. For instance, “build resilience toward antibiotics” is not the usual expression for reduced antibiotic effectiveness, while “quiet common” appears to mean “quite common.” “On their own” would be more appropriate than “on there own.” Build a wider set of precise terms for self-medication, medical advice, and treatment risks, and check spelling and collocations carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mixture of simple and complex sentences, including a conditional structure in “as it can cause serious health problems” and a longer sentence contrasting access barriers with self-treatment. The main meaning is generally clear, but errors occur in sentence construction, agreement, articles, and punctuation. Examples include “Doctors examine patients body” (possessive form and article), “many individuals have build resilience” (verb form), and “the charges … provokes” (subject–verb agreement). The sentence beginning “In many countries” is also difficult to control, with a semicolon used after “however” and several ideas joined together. Practise accurate possessives, verb forms, and agreement, and punctuate complex sentences so that clauses are clearly separated.

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

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