Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-18

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)

Many people choose to take multivitamins instead of a healthy diet even after being adviced by the doctors. They would pay hefty amounts of money to buy pills rater than spending on nutritious food.

In my opinion, it is becuase young adults nowadays believe anything that is shown to them on social media. They tend to follow the trends rather than a qualiied physician's suggestion. The online marketing compels them into believing that they need vitamins because food alone is enough to overcome the deficiencies they may have in their bodies. In this face-paced world where every individual is expected to work, people seek convenience and comfort over effort. Preparing healthy meals takes effort, energy and time; thus, they choose to eat fast food and processed food instead of whole foods like milk, meat, vegetables and fruits.Therefore, people are more prone to develop vitimin deficiencies. Companies take advantage of this fact and manipulate people.

One way to convince people is to educate people of the significance of taking healthy diet through social media. The influencers with millions of followers should responsibly promote health and wellness. Nutritionists should take on the social media to take this initiative and educate people about the serious repercussions of long-term use of pills.

In my opinion this is the way we can persuade public to stop consuming vitamins andinspire them to real food.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt, exploring the reasons why people spend money on vitamin pills—such as social media influence and the desire for convenience in a fast-paced world—and suggesting solutions like using influencers and nutritionists for education. A clear position is maintained throughout. However, the ideas are somewhat generalized and lack extended support or specific examples from personal experience. Furthermore, the response falls short of the 250-word minimum, containing only 228 words, which prevents full development and requires a penalty to the Task Achievement score.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a recognizable introduction, body paragraphs addressing the prompt questions, and a brief conclusion. Paragraphing is utilized, though some paragraphs combine distinct ideas, such as causes and consequences. Cohesive devices are present, such as 'In my opinion', 'Thus', and 'Therefore', but their application can be somewhat mechanical. Referencing is generally clear, but the logical progression between sentences occasionally feels abrupt, particularly in the transition from marketing tactics to fast-food consumption. Overall, the organizational structure is adequate for a mid-band score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully employing terms such as 'multivitamins', 'deficiencies', 'repercussions', and 'manipulate'. However, there are notable spelling errors, including 'adviced' instead of 'advised', 'becuase', 'qualiied', 'face-paced' instead of 'fast-paced', 'vitimin', and 'inspire them to real food' (missing 'eat' or 'choose'). Less common vocabulary is attempted with some inaccuracy in collocation and word choice, which slightly strains comprehension in places.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at subordination and relative clauses, such as 'Companies take advantage of this fact and manipulate people.' and 'The influencers with millions of followers should responsibly promote health and wellness.' There are several grammatical errors and awkward phrasings, including 'after being adviced by the doctors' (passive voice error), 'food alone is enough to overcome the deficiencies they may have in their bodies' (confused logic regarding vitamins), and 'take on the social media'. Despite these errors, the sentence structures are mostly clear and do not severely impede communication.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.