Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-11-04

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)

Although doctors acknowledge that the vitamins able to get from nutrition food. Many people seek for supplements to support their health. The reasons to pursue people spending money on substituted vitamins are from 2 causes. First,

difficulty accessing healthy meal likes don't have time to do homemade dishes, or don't know how to cook. Second is because they don't like the taste or smell of some ingredients. These problems are able to mitigate by 3 methods.

First, time issues can improve by changing routine. They need to wake up 30 to 40 minutes earlier for preparing breakfast and lunch. This solution makes you have a fresh meal every days.

Second, people who don't know how to cook should take a class. Nowadays, cooking classes have a range to enroll such as Thai food, healthy fast food and basic food for beginners. Once you make your own recipe then you are able to control quantity and nutrition.

Last, many people struggle with taste or smell of some food or ingredients as fish and onion. This case doing some reliable research is importance. You should search what can replacement the one you don't like. For example, you feel fish is smelly. So, your body could be lack of proteins. You can have chicken or eggs to get proteins.

Adjusting every days timetable, pursuing a cooking class and finding replacements foods are the way to help you save money from buying vitamins. If you want to have a good health without extra spending, above solutions are advised.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both questions: you suggest that people buy supplements because healthy meals can be difficult to prepare and some foods are disliked, then offer practical alternatives such as changing routines, taking cooking classes and substituting ingredients. These ideas are relevant and your examples, including replacing fish with chicken or eggs, help make the advice concrete. However, the explanation of why people spend large sums on pills is less fully developed than the proposed solutions; for instance, you could explain why supplements seem more convenient or reassuring to consumers. Some recommendations also need qualification: waking earlier may not suit everyone, and the protein example does not directly explain how to replace a particular vitamin. Develop these links more clearly to address both parts with greater balance.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction identifies the issue, the body presents three proposed solutions, and the conclusion summarises them. Sequencing words such as “First,” “Second,” and “Last” make the progression easy to follow. This is a coherent arrangement, although the organisation is somewhat mechanical and the opening’s list of causes does not lead smoothly into the solution paragraphs. Some references are also unclear, as in “This case” and “the one you don't like”; readers have to infer what each phrase refers to. Use more varied transitions and make links between each cause and its corresponding solution explicit. A clearer distinction between the reasons people buy pills and the ways to encourage dietary change would strengthen the progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of topic vocabulary, including “supplements,” “nutrition,” “ingredients,” “quantity,” and “proteins,” and phrases such as “cooking classes” communicate practical ideas. However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, which limits precision: “nutrition food,” “seek for supplements,” “substituted vitamins,” and “replacement foods” do not express the intended meanings naturally. There are also word-form and spelling issues, such as “importance” where an adjective is needed and “every days.” These errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the main points, but they make the response less fluent. Build accuracy by learning common collocations for diet and health, and check word forms when editing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mixture of simple sentences and longer structures, including a conditional example (“If you want to have a good health…”) and explanations introduced by “Once” and “For example.” However, control is uneven, and several sentence patterns are incomplete or faulty. The opening, “Although doctors acknowledge that the vitamins able to get from nutrition food,” is a fragment because it lacks a complete main clause and a finite verb. Other examples include “Second is because…” and “This case doing some reliable research is importance.” There are also errors in agreement, articles and plurals, such as “a fresh meal every days.” Aim to form complete clauses consistently, then check verb forms and singular/plural agreement. More accurate complex sentences would make your reasoning clearer.

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