Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-10

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)

Medical research projects are the way for innovation and promotion of medical field. I think the research should be done by the private companies only. I will discuss my view in coming paragraphs.

Private sectors are the perfect fit for conducting any medical research project as they have the finances, the group of people who can work with flexible timings and good pay. Since the private companies provide good pay to all its employees, corruption is already negated. Also, employees have more work timings so faster achievement of goals can be done. Moreover, private companies have a lot of network inside the country and in foreign countries also. Such connections play important role in getting new ideas and getting help in technology as well.

I think the individuals can never work on the reaseach projects because of many reasons. They would not have the finance required for the medical projects as such projects requires a lot more financial stability. Individuals may not be able to find a team who is hard working, who can provide faster results. Any research requires trying and testing along with a lot of great ideas. Even if individuals try with the team, it would take a lot of time and money to complete the project. The target would easily be achieved if private companies take over the responsibility of the medical research.

Furthermore, if government is accountable for such projects, they would take much longer to finish it because of fixed and comfortable work timings. Also, in many countries, a lot of corruption is observed in government sector. The government employees use the funding provided for research for their own. Such kind of practice not only delays the project outcome, but finishes off the fundings in an inappropriate manner resulting in nothing.

Conclusively, providing responsibility of conducting a medical research project can be handled very well by private companies and not by an individual or government because of various benefits

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, clearly stating a position in favor of private companies. However, the development of ideas is somewhat simplistic. While you provide reasons for your choice, the arguments regarding 'corruption' in government and the inability of individuals to conduct research are somewhat generalized and lack nuance. To reach a higher band, you should provide more specific examples or deeper analysis of the trade-offs involved in medical research funding, such as the tension between profit-driven motives and public health priorities. The position is clear throughout, but the depth of argumentation remains at a functional level.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear central topic. You use basic cohesive devices such as 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', and 'Conclusively' to link your ideas. However, the flow between sentences can feel a bit mechanical, and some transitions are repetitive. The referencing is generally clear, but the progression of ideas within paragraphs could be smoother. For example, the transition from discussing private companies to individuals could be more sophisticated to better highlight the contrast. Overall, the structure is coherent and easy to follow.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'innovation', 'financial stability', and 'accountable'. However, there are instances of imprecise word choice and minor errors, such as 'negated' (where 'minimized' or 'mitigated' might be more appropriate) and 'finishes off the fundings' (which is non-standard). You rely on some repetitive phrasing, such as 'good pay' and 'medical research projects'. To improve, try to incorporate more precise collocations and academic synonyms to express your ideas with greater sophistication and variety.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors, such as 'the research should be carried by' (should be 'carried out'), 'the group of people who can work with flexible timings' (awkward phrasing), and 'if government is accountable' (missing article 'the'). There are also minor issues with subject-verb agreement and pluralization, such as 'finishes off the fundings'. While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. Focus on refining your use of articles and prepositions.

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

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