Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-21
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)
In this era private companies are funding several medical research projects. While government should give grants to researchers for these research projects.
Government is responsible for the health of its citizens. and it should facilitate researchers to do their best researches. So that people living in the state can have better treatments and medicines for their diseases. No doubt private companies are funding these projects but this is not a responsibility of them to do so. Government should provide all the things which can be used in research projects these includes finances, chemicals for medicines, species to test on, and safe environment etc.
Most people can not show their potentials because of lack of financial and other research resources.They do not find any company which still has finances to support another project. Because of this, researchers quit their researches and start finding ways to become financially independent rather than wasting their time on doing researches and gaining nothing. everyone need some finances to manage their home, when they do not have resources to do so , they quit their interests and findings and start doing something for a living.
Medical research is the most important as medical researchers can discover the treatment of many diseases which do not have any cure until now. A large group of people died every year because of the diseases which do not have any discovered treatment. Individuals can't have enough resources to do research and private companies are already funding many projects. Only government can consider and start budgeting for some important medical researches so that more people can live a better life.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses the prompt by arguing that the government should be the primary funder of medical research. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. While you mention that researchers quit due to lack of funds, the argument could be strengthened by providing a concrete example of a specific medical breakthrough or a real-world scenario where government funding proved superior to private investment. The position is clear, but the discussion remains somewhat repetitive, focusing heavily on the financial struggles of researchers rather than exploring the broader implications of private versus public funding models. To reach a higher band, ensure each paragraph introduces a distinct, well-supported point.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organized into paragraphs, but the logical flow between sentences is occasionally disjointed. For instance, the transition between the role of the government and the struggles of individual researchers is abrupt. You use some cohesive devices like 'because of this' and 'while', but their usage is sometimes mechanical or inaccurate, such as starting a sentence with 'While' without a main clause following it. Referencing is occasionally unclear, and the paragraphing could be more effective in separating the different arguments regarding the responsibilities of the government versus private entities.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and variety required for higher bands. You rely on basic terms like 'things', 'do', and 'start', which limits the sophistication of your argument. There are also some awkward collocations, such as 'do their best researches' (instead of 'conduct high-quality research') and 'species to test on' (which is imprecise). To improve, try to incorporate more academic collocations and topic-specific terminology related to medical research and public policy to demonstrate a wider range of vocabulary.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede the flow. Common issues include subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'everyone need'), incorrect article usage, and sentence fragments (e.g., 'While government should give grants...'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, with periods placed incorrectly within sentences, such as 'citizens. and it should'. While the meaning is generally clear, these persistent errors in basic grammar and sentence construction prevent the essay from reaching a higher band. Focusing on proofreading for basic subject-verb agreement and sentence boundaries would be highly beneficial.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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