Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-27

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 know natural food could provide nutritions our body need and yet they are still depend on supplement pills. This might be due to some reasons. In this essay, I will discuss the few reasons people are so depending on vitamin pills.

First of all, people depend on supplement might be due to busy. To cook a meal, it takes them at least half an hour. Conversely, it takes only a few second to swollow the pills. But seldom people think if the supplement fact is true and will there be any side effect. Nowadays people are more health conscious and the popular of social media, sellers take the opportunity to educate consumers about the conveniences of talking pills and the troublesome of spending time on cooking a nutrition meal. Hence, they would rather spend some money to exchange the conveniences. I did the same too. There was a time when my period is irregular. I was so worry if I would be menopause early. I could figured out anything I can do except taking supplement. Then I googled and found a seller located in UK who has high review on her menopause supplement. I would rather spent GBP50 in hoping to get back my regular period. Actually we spent to buy a hope. It doesn't guarantee to get back the regular period. May be this is also what the consumers think. It is better do something than do nothing.

Nevertheless, consumers should be smart to do some homework before trusting entirely on the commercial advertisement. They should ask themselves if what they consume is truely absorp into their body without any side effect. I agree cooking natural food spending time, but this is safe to our body. What the consumer eventually want is healthy body.

Lastly, I agree with the point getting healthy from natural food instead of relying on supplement.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing both why people spend money on vitamin pills and how they might be persuaded to improve their diet instead. The student develops a clear position and supports ideas with relevant personal experience, stating: 'I did the same too. There was a time when my period is irregular.' While the explanation tends to be anecdotal rather than universally analytical, the ideas are extended sufficiently to meet the requirements of a Band 6.0. The second question regarding persuasion is touched upon when the writer notes that consumers should 'do some homework' and consider natural food, though this part of the task could have been developed more comprehensively and formally to reach higher bands.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt to structure the response into an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is utilised, although some paragraphs contain multiple distinct ideas that could be separated for better logical flow. Cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or faulty, such as the transition 'Conversely, it takes only a second to swollow the pills' and the abrupt ending. Referencing is occasionally unclear, as seen in phrases like 'This might be due to some reasons' without immediate precise elaboration. Progression is evident, but the lack of smooth, varied cohesive links places this text firmly at the Band 5.5 to 6.0 level.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, demonstrating an attempt to discuss health, diet, and consumer habits with phrases like 'health conscious', 'commercial advertisement', and 'side effect'. However, there are numerous lexical and word-choice inaccuracies throughout the text, such as 'nutritions' instead of nutrients, 'swollow' instead of swallow, 'popular' instead of popularity, and 'talking pills' instead of taking pills. These errors occasionally strain the reader, but communication is not severely impeded. The range is limited, preventing the score from rising above Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional and subordinate clauses ('To cook a meal, it takes them at least half an hour'). However, grammatical accuracy is weak, featuring frequent errors in tense consistency and verb forms, including 'when my period is irregular' (was), 'I could figured out' (figure), 'I would rather spent' (spend), and 'What the consumer eventually want' (wants). Punctuation and word form errors are noticeable throughout. These errors cause some difficulty for the reader and reflect the characteristics of a Band 5.0 response.

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