Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-18

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 5.5)

These days, several research projects are sponsored by private companies. I think research should be carried out by government as it has greater research funds and a better digital record than individuals or a company.

First and formost, research being conducted at government level often comes up with larger funds paving way for more impactful outcomes, on the other hand private or individuals mostly perform their research on a limited budget bounding the project scope to a very minimum level. This action ties hands of the researchers as now they can't ask for state of the art technology or any important material because the budget is limited. Such as, the department of food quality was alloted 30M$ funds by the government, they are more prone to enjoy the cutting edge tech and resources than a private company who gave just 1M$ funds for research because their total capital is 5M$.

Additionally, government research will have a larger and proper digital record due to the higher stakes involved, which invites transparency on the table. Private and individual digital records are mostly on a very smaller level with less focus to preserve the records for upcoming phase. That said, private companies make volatile decisions, which are accustomed to change just for less meaningful attributes. For instance, A company deleted his previous research because board of directors think that it is not profitable.

In conclusion, although many research projects are funded by private companies, I believe that research should be done by state because of greater research budget and more focus on digital record.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by clearly stating a position that government funding is preferable due to larger budgets and better digital records. The student attempts to extend and support ideas, such as comparing government budgets for food quality with private company budgets. However, the development tends to rely on simplistic generalizations and occasional sweeping claims, such as stating that private companies delete research purely based on board decisions. While all parts of the task are addressed, the ideas would benefit from deeper nuance and more rigorous support to reach a higher band. Overall, the performance aligns well with Band 6 descriptors for Task Achievement.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The text exhibits a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct points, such as funding capacity in the first body paragraph and record-keeping in the second. Cohesive devices are employed, including transition markers like 'First and formost', 'on the other hand', and 'Additionally'. However, some referencing is slightly clumsy, and mechanical transitions like 'on the table' reflect a somewhat repetitive or unnatural flow. Logical progression is maintained throughout, but cohesion occasionally feels forced, placing this response securely in the Band 6 territory.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task and allows the student to communicate their ideas effectively. There are attempts at less common lexical items, such as 'cutting edge tech', 'volatile decisions', and 'transparency'. However, there are notable word choice inaccuracies and collocation issues, such as 'First and formost' (spelling/collocation), 'paving way' (missing article), 'alloted 30M$ funds' (unnatural phrasing), and 'less meaningful attributes'. Spelling errors like 'formost' and punctuation slips are present, though they do not impede overall communication. These limitations cap the lexical score at a solid Band 6.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, attempting subordination and relative clauses. There are instances of good grammatical control, but frequent errors in punctuation, articles, and preposition usage persist throughout the response. Examples include 'research being conducted at government level often comes up with larger funds paving way', 'bounding the project scope', 'a private company who gave just 1M$ funds', and 'A company deleted his previous research'. While these errors do not impede communication, their frequency prevents the sentence structures from achieving the consistent error-free status required for higher bands. The grammar reflects a stable Band 6 level.

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.