Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-18

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 7.0)

In this contemporary society, most of the medicine related research is being taken care of by privatised organizations. Whether research should be conducted by private companies, individuals or government has become part of heated debate in the current era. I strongly believe that government should be the one to take the mantle and lead the medical research and in this essay, I will provide reasons and examples to support my viewpoint.

Private companies are the most prevalent in medical research nowadays because of their quality control and cutting edge technology, they are able to undertake medicine projects and deliver results in a profound manner. The state of the art equipment and tools owned by the privatised institutions along with their considerable assets and manpower allows them to get things done quickly and efficiently. For instance, during the pandemic companies like Pfizer were able to provide the vaccine for Covid-19 in record time and save millions of lives around the globe.

Although, there have been many luminaries and exceptional individuals who have done great work for mankind in the medical research, like Alexander Fleming whose curiosity and experiments lead to the discovery of Penicillin, which became the panacea to millions of people around the world. In this contemporary society, medical research done by individuals is not feasible as it requires considerable amount of assets and finances which are not easily available to individuals. Furthermore, a lone individual can not achieve as much as a whole organisation. so, I think individual research should be the part of the glorious past and not the current timeline.

Governmental research on medicine can be extremely beneficial for the less affluent and the penurious people who can not afford expensive medicine being released as a result of private and corporate greed. The medicine and antibiotics which are released from government projects are heavily subsidized which allows it to be purchased and used by people, who would otherwise never be able to get their hands on them. A good example would be the private brands like Rogaine, they use the brand name as leverage to heavily profit from the poor, whereas the bland Finasteride costs 5 times as less.

In conclusion, I strongly believe that medical analysis projects should be done by government, however co-operation between all of them would be the ideal situation and for the betterment of society as a whole.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response7.0
Coherence and Cohesion7.0
Lexical Resource7.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy6.5
Overall7.0

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, providing a clear position that government-led research is preferable. The ideas are relevant and generally well-developed. For instance, the discussion on Pfizer highlights the efficiency of private companies, while the comparison between Rogaine and Finasteride effectively illustrates the argument for government-subsidized medicine. However, the development of the 'individual' perspective is slightly weaker, as it dismisses individual research as a thing of the past without fully acknowledging modern collaborative models or crowdfunding. Overall, the position is consistent throughout, and the arguments are supported with relevant examples, meeting the requirements for a solid band 7.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Each paragraph has a central theme, such as the role of private companies, the limitations of individuals, and the benefits of government intervention. Cohesive devices are used effectively, such as 'For instance', 'Although', and 'Furthermore', which help guide the reader through the argument. However, there are minor issues with flow, such as the transition between the individual research paragraph and the government research paragraph, which could be smoother. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas, contributing to a clear progression of thought.

Lexical Resource — Band 7.0

The student demonstrates a good range of vocabulary, including sophisticated terms like 'contemporary society', 'panacea', 'affluent', and 'penurious'. There is an attempt to use less common lexical items, which is generally successful. However, there are some minor inaccuracies in collocation or word choice, such as 'medicine related research' (should be 'medical research') and 'the bland Finasteride' (where 'generic' would be more precise). Despite these minor slips, the vocabulary is sufficient to convey complex ideas with precision and flexibility, fitting the criteria for a band 7.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There is evidence of good control over grammar, such as the use of conditional structures and relative clauses. However, there are some persistent errors, such as 'government should be the one to take the mantle' (missing article 'the government') and 'individual research should be the part of the glorious past' (unnecessary article). Additionally, there are occasional punctuation errors, such as the comma splice in '...manpower allows them to get things done quickly and efficiently. For instance...'. While these errors do not impede communication, they prevent the essay from reaching a higher band.

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.