Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-12

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Doctors tell us that we can get all the vitamins we need from having a healthy diet. Despite this advice, some people continue to spend large sums of money on vitamin pills.

Why do you think some people spend a lot of money on vitamin pills?

How could people be persuaded to improve their diet instead of buying vitamin pills?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Doctors say that we can get a healthy body without any vitamins but still some people think that with the help of money they can get good vitamins to stay healthy. There are number of reasons that individuals that people think if they buy good amount of vitamins they keep there self healthy and their are some natural ways without any pills person can stay healthy we can discuss ahead.

Firstly, people spend lot of their money to buy pills which help them to stay healthy. To elaborate it, most of the individual spend money on vitamins pills, cream or other things because they think that if they consume pills they got faster results. Moreover, people also influence by the products which having by others. For example, if any product having minerals and vitamins but it cost 500$ people still purchase it because it comes with it that it gives instant results. As a result everyone buy it and believe that it could give them healthy life.

On the other hand, people can stay healthy without any expensive pills or diet. To explain it, person can use their kitchen as a hub of natural ingredients which help individuals to maintain their healthy lifestyle with any expenses.next, we can use fruits and vegetables in our diet plan and do regular exercise to stay fit. However, there are other way like healthy food, avoid fast food, drink lot of water, proper sleep and so on. Thus, all these things help everyone to stay healthy and save lot of money.

In conclusion,I strongly believe that we have to avoid spending money on expensive pills instead of that we should try the simple home made things that keep us healthy and fit but if someone try all the methods but still feels they need vitamins pills they should but in small amount only.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: explaining why people spend money on vitamin pills and suggesting how they can be persuaded to improve their diet instead. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive. For the first part, the writer notes that people seek 'faster results' and are influenced by others purchasing expensive items. For the second part, suggestions include utilizing the kitchen, eating fruits and vegetables, and exercising. While a clear position is presented throughout, the arguments lack depth, and the explanation of how people are persuaded could be more fully explored. The response meets the requirements for Band 6.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with logical paragraphing, separating the introduction, reasons, counter-solutions, and conclusion clearly. However, cohesion is often faulty or mechanical. The writer relies heavily on basic transitional phrases like 'Firstly', 'To elaborate it', 'Moreover', and 'On the other hand'. Referencing is occasionally unclear, as seen in expressions like 'if any product having minerals and vitamins but it cost 500$ people still purchase it because it comes with it that it gives instant results', where pronoun usage and linking cause confusion. Paragraphing is present, but internal cohesion needs more sophisticated transitional devices to achieve a higher band score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, but range and precision are limited. The student attempts some less common vocabulary such as 'natural ingredients', 'maintain their healthy lifestyle', and 'instant results', but these are offset by frequent word choice and phrasing errors, such as 'individuals that people think if they buy good amount of vitamins they keep there self healthy' and 'products which having by others'. Spelling errors are also present, such as 'their' instead of 'there'. The lexical range is minimally adequate to convey meaning, fitting the Band 5 descriptors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and some complex sentence forms, though complex structures are frequently faulty. Examples of grammatical errors include missing auxiliary verbs, incorrect prepositions, and awkward clause structures, such as 'person can use their kitchen as a hub of natural ingredients which help individuals to maintain their healthy lifestyle with any expenses' (instead of 'without any expenses'). Run-on sentences and punctuation issues also occur throughout the text, as seen in the concluding sentence. While communication is not entirely impeded, the high frequency of errors places this response firmly in the Band 5 category.

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

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