Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-19
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)
Usually these days, severl research programs related to medical are sponsored by private industries, due to which many issues are seen. I strongly believe that private companies should be stopped involving in such projects to correct the problem areas like pricing, financial benefits over social betterment and less attention to prevention and side effects.
The major problem that incurs by the private companies for such research is the prices of the products manufactured. Mostly it is seen in the mrket that prices of the medicines rise up with the demand. For example during the time of covid, cost of vacination was touching the sky. The medicine was stocked to sell on the higher prices. Similarly, during the rainy sason rate of dengue and malaria medicines used to go up.
The other drawback of these companies, is the financial benefit. Although, these companies have excessive funds still they prefer cheaper alternates to earn more profits. They use cheaper ingredients, cut cost for quantity over quality. Due to which effectiveness of medicines and vaccines is not very high. For instance, the tablets of panadol or paracetamol, one at a time was enough in older days. But now due to the high end business benefits one tablet is not helping to cure the problem. Doctors are recomending more than one medicine at a time to imprve its productivity. These comanies are not looking to help people instead making situation difficult for their consumers.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position against private funding. However, the essay is under the 250-word minimum, which limits the depth of the argument. While the ideas regarding pricing and quality are relevant, they are somewhat repetitive and lack a broader discussion of the alternatives (government or individual funding) requested by the prompt. The argument is one-sided and lacks a counter-argument or a more balanced perspective, which is expected for a higher band score. The conclusion is also missing, leaving the essay feeling incomplete.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organised into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the argument. However, the use of cohesive devices is somewhat mechanical and limited. Transitions between sentences are occasionally abrupt, such as the jump between the introduction and the first body paragraph. The lack of a concluding paragraph significantly impacts the overall coherence, as the essay ends abruptly without summarising the main points or restating the position. The logical progression is present but could be strengthened with more sophisticated linking words.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and variety required for a higher band. There are several spelling errors, such as 'severl', 'mrket', 'vacination', 'sason', 'recomending', and 'comanies'. These errors are frequent enough to be noticeable. While the student attempts to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'sponsored', 'financial benefits', and 'effectiveness', the range is limited. To improve, the student should focus on accurate spelling and incorporating more academic collocations to express ideas more fluently.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout. Examples include 'research programs related to medical' (should be 'medical research programs'), 'the major problem that incurs by the private companies' (incorrect passive voice), and 'prices of the medicines rise up' (unnecessary preposition). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with comma usage. While the meaning is generally clear, the frequency of errors in basic grammar and sentence construction prevents the response from reaching a higher band.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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