Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-21

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 6.5)

There is an ongoing debate about whether medical research should be carried out by private companies, individuals, or the government. Each of these groups has its own advantages particularly in terms of funding, decision-making, and resources.

Private companies can provide large amounts of funding for medical research. They are often willing to invest money into new medicines and treatments, as successful products lead to higher profits. This also encourages researchers to be determined and develop new technologies.

However, the government should also play a significant role in medical research. While private companies look toward profits, governments are mostly concerned with the health of the public. They can fun research into treatments that may not bring profit but are still important to society. The involvement of government funding can also make treatments affordable for ordinary people.

Lastly, I don't think a single individual can provide as much benefit or funding as the government or a private company, but a group of people can still participate in a donation, helping in their own way. Donations from a large group of people can help fund important medical research. Individuals might also be able to volunteer for helping in the research.

In conclusion, I suggest all 3 groups should have a role in carrying out research, but the government should take the main lead. Even though donations can help and private companies can be more devoted, in my opinion, medical research and discoveries should genuinely be done for the good of the society more than for increasing profits and personal gain.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

Your position is clear: all three groups can contribute, but government should lead. You address each option and give relevant reasons, including companies’ profit incentive, public funding for less profitable treatments, and donations or volunteering by individuals. This covers the task well. However, the support is uneven: the discussion of private companies and government is more developed than the point about individuals, which remains general and does not include a concrete example. The claim that government funding can make treatments affordable would also benefit from explanation of how this might happen. To strengthen the response further, develop each main reason with a specific example and explain more directly why government leadership is preferable to a shared role without that priority.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The response is organised clearly, with an introduction, separate paragraphs for the three groups, and a conclusion that restates your position. The progression from private companies to government and then individuals is easy to follow, and signposts such as “However,” “Lastly,” and “In conclusion” help guide the reader. This is a logical structure with a clear overall progression. Some connections between ideas could be more precise: for example, the move from donations to volunteering in the individuals paragraph is understandable but not fully developed as a connected argument. The conclusion also repeats several points rather than drawing them together. Use referencing and transitions to show more explicitly how each group’s contribution supports your recommendation that government should lead.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for the topic, including “medical research,” “treatments,” “funding,” “public,” and “donations.” Phrases such as “higher profits” and “affordable for ordinary people” communicate relevant distinctions between commercial and public aims. There are also some imprecise or awkward choices, including “fun research” (apparently intended to mean “fund research”), “take the main lead,” and “devoted,” which is not the most natural way to describe companies’ commitment. “For the good of the society” is also an awkward collocation. These choices do not prevent understanding, but greater precision and more natural academic phrasing would improve the response. Aim to use topic-specific terms consistently and check collocations when revising.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 7.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, and several sentences are controlled well, such as “While private companies look toward profits, governments are mostly concerned with the health of the public.” The conditional structure in “as successful products lead to higher profits” also helps explain cause and effect. Most sentences are clear, with punctuation and paragraphing supporting readability. A few grammatical slips remain: “a group of people can still participate in a donation” uses an awkward singular construction, and “volunteer for helping” has an incorrect pattern after “volunteer.” The final phrase “the good of the society” also needs an article adjustment. Review verb patterns and article use, while continuing to vary sentence structures.

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