Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-30

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)

It is true that we can get all the vitamins we need by consuming healthy diet. It,is nowadays seen that people usually have an imbalanced diet due to eating a lot of junk food. This leads to an unhealthy lifestyle and weakens one's immunity system which, eventually narrows down to lack of vitamins.Healthy food consists of iron,vitamin,magnesium and necessary nutriants needed for an individual. It is mostly seen that people after the age of 30 start having issues with backpain,struggling with concentration,fatgue and many such reasons.

It, is basically because of the unhealthy life pattern.

To commence with, people who do not follow good food routine eventually end up having vitamins loss and start consuming vitamin pills such as vitamin A,B,C,D ,B12 and so on. People have forgotten that we can be nourished with all of these vitamins only with help of proper intake of food which, includes green leafy veggies, sprouts and meat. An amazing way to gain vitamin D is by exposing yourself to the sunlight early morning. Exercising and workingout can balance one's health. People usually spend a lot of money on vitamins pills and shots is regardlessly because they are lazy and tend to eat only what their taste buds want and, not what the body requires. This gradually weakens the body and needs supplements to fulfill the lack of vitamin deficency in one.

On the other hand,if people start exercising and have a clean diet including green veggies and meat its an absolute success and freedom for an individual from consume any vitamin pills. I have lately seen my cousin who was facing fatigue,memory issues and numbness in legs. The doctor stated that it is due to lack of vitamin b12. She started filtering junk food out of her eating habits and only concentrated on the food that is rich in vitamin b12 and, today she is pill free.

To conclude one must always have calculated amount of food needed. Its, important to have all necessary food which provides vitamins naturally. Having pills can have lots of side effects such as liver and pancrease failure so, one must eat healthy for "Health is Wealth".

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The candidate addresses both parts of the prompt: explaining why people spend money on vitamin pills and how they might be persuaded to improve their diet instead. A clear position is maintained throughout the response. However, the development of ideas lacks full extension in places. For instance, the explanation of laziness and taste buds is somewhat simplistic, and the personal example about the cousin is a bit anecdotal rather than universally developed. Nevertheless, the response covers all parts of the task well, providing relevant ideas such as the lack of time, poor eating habits, and the influence of diet on health. This performance aligns comfortably with the Band 6.5 to 7.0 descriptors, specifically touching upon addressing all parts with clear progression, so a Band 6.5 is awarded.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay is generally coherent and arranged into logical paragraphs with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'To commence with', 'On the other hand', and 'To conclude', which helps guide the reader. However, referencing and punctuation issues occasionally make the flow mechanical or slightly awkward, as seen in sentences like 'It,is nowadays seen that' and 'It, is basically because'. Paragraphing is present and divides the main ideas adequately, but internal cohesion within paragraphs could be smoother. This level corresponds to a Band 6, where the overall arrangement is coherent despite faulty or mechanical cohesion in places.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student displays an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common items such as 'imbalanced diet', 'immunity system', 'supplements', and 'vitamin deficiency'. However, there are notable instances of awkward word choices and collocation errors, such as 'vitamins loss', 'food routine', and 'consume any vitamin pills' instead of 'consuming'. Spelling and word-form errors also appear, like 'fatgue' instead of fatigue and 'pancrease' instead of pancreas. While communication is not impeded, these inaccuracies prevent the lexical score from reaching the higher bands. This performance reflects the Band 6 descriptor where an adequate range is used with some inaccuracy and spelling errors that do not hinder the reader.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including conditional structures ('if people start exercising...') and relative clauses. However, punctuation is frequently intrusive and inaccurate, with misplaced commas (e.g., 'It,is nowadays seen that', 'food which, includes', 'taste buds want and, not what'). There are also grammatical errors such as missing articles ('consuming healthy diet') and prepositional mistakes. Despite these issues, the sentence forms are varied enough to convey meaning clearly without impeding the reader's understanding. This sits solidly at Band 6, characterised by a mix of simple and complex sentence forms with some recurring errors in grammar and punctuation.

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