Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-10

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Nowadays, many medical research projects are funded by private companies. In your opinion, do you think that research should be carried by private companies, individuals or government?

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 in present, several medical researches are funded by private owned corporations. In my opinion, I believe that the research duties should be performed by governments.

Firstly, governments have access to all aspects required for a medical research. Governments have every record and data available of living things, places, etc required for a successful research. They have the ability to perform searches in restricted areas. Moreover, government officials can seek help from country's top scientist's to carry out accurate researches. Unlike individuals, government authorities can allocate greater sums of funds to carry out the research projects. For instance, in order to perform a medical research the private companies or individuals would seek for investors to fund their project, which may even lead to several delays or inaccuracies in research data due to insufficient funds.

Furthermore, the results from researches carried out by governance bodies are found increasingly trusting by the nation. Increasing number of individuals would prefer to accept the government's work rather than one performed by private companies or individuals. Some successful medical researches can result in producing cure to various diseases. If they are government led then the vaccine and medications to such diseases can be provided to the public free of cost, whereas the profit organizations would prefer to charge for their services. Additionally, work carried out by official authorities will be widely recognized around the globe as verified and accurate.

In conclusion, I firmly believe that governments should be the top priority to carry out important medical researches as their work will be considered as verified by people all around the g

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position that governments should lead medical research. The ideas are relevant, focusing on resource allocation and public trust. However, the development is somewhat limited; for instance, the claim that governments have 'every record and data available of living things' is a broad generalization that lacks specific, nuanced support. While the argument is consistent, it would benefit from more concrete examples beyond general statements about funding and public perception. The conclusion is incomplete, which slightly impacts the overall task completion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. Cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', and 'Additionally' are used to link ideas, although some transitions feel slightly mechanical. The progression of ideas is generally clear, moving from resource availability to public trust and accessibility. However, the final sentence is cut off, which disrupts the coherence of the conclusion. Referencing is generally clear, though the flow between sentences could be improved by using a wider variety of cohesive structures rather than relying on simple sentence-initial connectors.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express their opinion clearly. There are some instances of imprecise word choice, such as 'increasingly trusting' (should be 'trusted') and 'profit organizations' (should be 'for-profit organizations'). The phrase 'medical researches' is also slightly unnatural, as 'research' is typically an uncountable noun in this context. While the range is sufficient to convey the intended meaning, there is a lack of more sophisticated or academic vocabulary that would elevate the response to a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'in present' (should be 'at present'), 'private owned' (should be 'privately owned'), and 'country's top scientist's' (incorrect apostrophe usage). Subject-verb agreement and article usage are occasionally inconsistent. While these errors do not impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. The range of structures is somewhat limited, relying heavily on straightforward declarative sentences rather than more complex, varied grammatical forms.

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

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