Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-22

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)

There are several reasons why the government should conduct medical research. First, the government has access to large amounts of public money and can spend it on research that is important for society. The main aim of government research is to improve people's health rather than make a profit. For example, governments can support research into serious diseases and the development of vaccines. This can help people who cannot afford expensive medical treatment.This treatment is most important and good experience are impressive companies are introduced to most expensive and good facilities.

On the other hand, private companies also have important role in medical research. The medical research has most important and many companies also have this most expensive and experience are also best that should be used to medical equipment. They often have advanced technology, skilled scientists and large research facilities. As a result, they can develop new medicines and treatments more quickly. However, private companies usually need to make a profit from their products. Therefore, some important research may not receive enough funding if it is not commercially attractive. For this reason, government support and supervision are necessary. The government are super implementation to medical this for impressive condition that should be implemented efficiently and very satisfied with the increase the government good allowed to medical facilities.

In conclusions, I believe that the government should be mainly responsible for medical research because public health should be a major priority. However, private companies should also work with governments because they can provide technology, expertise and additional funding.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both government and private funding in medical research, culminating in a clear position. The student explores the advantages of government research, such as public health focus and access to large budgets, and private sector contributions like advanced technology and expertise. However, some ideas lack clear development, particularly towards the end of the first paragraph and within the second body paragraph where sentences become disjointed and repetitive, such as 'This treatment is most important and good experience are impressive companies are introduced'. Consequently, the ideas are partially underdeveloped, placing the response securely at Band 6.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing, separating the introduction, government role, private company role, and conclusion. Transitional phrases like 'First', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusions' are used to guide the reader. However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For instance, the transition into the discussion of private companies contains awkward phrasing, and the concluding sentences in the body paragraphs suffer from severe breakdown in logical connection, such as 'The government are super implementation to medical this for impressive condition'. This demonstrates a tendency where referencing is not always clear, justifying a Band 5.5.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student attempts an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, incorporating terms such as 'research projects', 'public money', 'advanced technology', and 'commercially attractive'. However, there are noticeable limitations and inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, especially when attempting more complex vocabulary. Examples include 'good experience are impressive companies are introduced' and 'super implementation'. These lexical errors and awkward collocations cause some difficulty for the reader and impede the precision of the argument. Therefore, the vocabulary usage aligns best with Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over basic structures like 'First, the government has access to large amounts of public money'. Nevertheless, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement, awkward clause structures, and word forms, such as 'The government are super implementation' and 'In conclusions'. Many attempts at complex structures result in faulty or incomprehensible phrasing, which causes difficulty for the reader. While communication is not entirely obscured, the high frequency of grammatical inaccuracies points directly to a Band 5.0.

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.