Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-01

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 recent years, there has been considerable debate whether the medical research projects should primarily conducted and funded by private companies, individuals or government.

From my perspective, I firmly believe that government should take the responsibility because they can prioritize public health over the profit and provide more access to the scientific departments and advancements.

The primarily reason why i support this argument is because government are more likely to focus on public welfare rather than their own profits or financial gain. Private companies may invest making their own profitable medicines and works for the betterment of their own name, whereas the state can develop many funded programs that works on the serious medical disease regardless to their own image. This is because public authorities have the responsibility to protect the health of entire population. For instance government invest on the rare disease so that may not generate profits to attract the private investments. This clearly demonstrates why my justification is on the right path that proves that government should pay the central role in medical research.

In conclusion, I firmly believe that governments should take primary responsibility for funding and conducting medical research. This is mainly because they can prioritise public health over profit and ensure that scientific advancements benefit a wider population. In a long run, making the oppropriate

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position in favor of government funding. However, the essay is significantly under the 250-word minimum, which limits the depth of the argument. While the main idea—that governments prioritize public health over profit—is relevant, it is not fully developed. The essay lacks a counter-argument or a discussion of the roles of individuals or private companies, which were requested in the prompt. The conclusion is also incomplete, cutting off mid-sentence. Due to the failure to meet the length requirement and the lack of comprehensive development of all parts of the prompt, the score is restricted.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into an introduction, a body paragraph, and a conclusion. There is a logical progression of ideas, and the writer uses some cohesive devices like 'For instance' and 'In conclusion'. However, the cohesion is sometimes mechanical, and the abrupt ending of the essay negatively impacts the overall flow and structure. Paragraphing is present, but the body paragraph is quite short, and the lack of a second body paragraph makes the argument feel underdeveloped. The referencing is generally clear, but the overall coherence is hampered by the incomplete nature of the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. The writer uses some relevant terms such as 'medical research', 'public welfare', and 'scientific advancements'. However, there are some awkward collocations and word choices, such as 'scientific departments' (instead of 'scientific research') and 'serious medical disease' (instead of 'serious medical conditions'). There is also a spelling error ('oppropriate'). The vocabulary is sufficient to convey the basic meaning, but it does not demonstrate a wide or sophisticated range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'there has been considerable debate whether the medical research projects should primarily conducted' (missing 'be'), 'government are' (subject-verb agreement), and 'government invest on the rare disease' (preposition error). While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to be noticeable. The range of structures is limited, and the incomplete final sentence further detracts from the grammatical control shown.

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.