Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-14
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)
Despite of doctors advice on healthy diet; in order to stay healthy, inividuals are continue to take vitamin tablets. It occurs because of busy schedule. This issue can be solved by work life balance.
Hectic schedule is reason for having vitamin pills by eople instead of following healthy diet. As people have packed schedule they do not get time to cook food and have groceries frequently. Therefore, they buy frozen ready to eat food instead of fresh ones. Readymade food usually do not have enough nutrition as per body requirement which leads to lack of vitamins in body. For a instance, majority of working people in Toronto eat ready to eat meals. Thus, people have to spend on vitamin pill in order to stay healthy.
To troubleshoot this menace, work-life-balace is required. Individuals should make proper schedule which includes: working hours, grocey time, cooking, eating etcetera. This balace will provide them time to cook meal and have it on specific time. This allows people to check food for its nutrition values and its impact on health. A complete food will provide all the necessary nutrition; because of which, need of vitamin pills will no longer needed. Thus, people save money which they spend on vitamins. For example, Indians have less vitamin deficiencies as they have balanced life style.
In conclusion, masses are buying vitamin pills instead of health diet even after doctors' advice. this happens due to packed schedule of individuals. this issue can be mitigate by following balanced schedule.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The response addresses both parts of the prompt by explaining why people buy vitamin pills due to busy schedules and suggesting work-life balance as a solution. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive. For example, the explanation regarding ready-to-eat meals leading to vitamin deficiency is a valid point, but the supporting examples are brief. The position is clear throughout, and the main tenets of the task are covered, fitting the Band 6 descriptor where all parts are addressed though some aspects remain somewhat under-developed.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The essay is divided into logical paragraphs with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Therefore', 'Thus', and 'In conclusion'. However, referencing and transitions are sometimes mechanical or faulty, as seen in awkward punctuation choices like semicolons used incorrectly (e.g., 'diet; in order'). Paragraphing is present, but overall progression lacks sophisticated management, placing the response firmly in the Band 6 range.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with attempts at less common items such as 'troubleshoot', 'menace', and 'mitigate'. However, there are notable word-choice and collocation errors, such as 'have groceries frequently', 'grocery time', and 'health diet' instead of 'healthy diet'. Spelling errors like 'inividuals' and missing articles or prepositions also appear. These errors do not impede communication, matching the criteria for Band 5.5 to 6.0, rounded here to 5.5 due to frequency of lexical slips.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but grammatical accuracy is weak. There are frequent errors in basic structures, articles, and prepositions, such as 'Despite of doctors advice', 'are continue to take', 'Readymade food usually do not have', and 'For a instance'. Punctuation is also problematic in places. Because the errors are frequent and often distract the reader, the response aligns best with Band 5.0.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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