Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-24

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)

Nowadays, some people many medical research projects are funded by private companies, while others think that individuals and government should be responsible for it. From my perspective, the government have to play the main role, although private companies can also contribute.

The government should fund medical research because its main aim is to improve the public health rather than earn profits.Firstly, governments have to provide financial support to medical research such as cancer or heart disease, which helps scientist to discover new researches and find the way to overcome the disease. Secondly, they should also provide medicines at lower cost in hospitals. Middle- or lower-class people cannot afford high cost medicines. For instance, poor people have to pay for rooms, treatments and for medicines. This cost highly which they cannot afford. From this fear many people go to clinics intead of hospitals.

On the other hand, private companies can also contribute to medical research. It is not only the responsibility of government, but also the companies who often have better technology, skilled people, and sufficient financial resource to develop new medicines. Furthermore, the competitions between the private companies can encourage them find better treatments more quickly. However, some companies may focus only making profits and charge high price on medicines. This will also encourage other companies to earn profit rather than helping poor people.

In conclusion, although private companies can contribute in medical research, the main responsibilty of this is for government. If the government contribute in medical research, scientist can develop more medicines.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You give a clear overall position: the government should take the main responsibility, while private companies can contribute. Both sides are discussed, and relevant reasons include public-health priorities, affordability, companies’ technology and competition. However, several points are only briefly explained. For example, the claim that government funding helps scientists find ways to overcome disease needs a clearer explanation or a specific example, and the conclusion largely repeats your position rather than developing its implications. The response also contains 245 words, so it is five words below the required minimum; this limits the space available to develop your ideas fully. Add a concrete example and explain more precisely how public funding can improve access to treatment.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, a paragraph supporting government funding, a paragraph on private companies, and a conclusion. The contrast marker “On the other hand” helps signal the shift between the two main viewpoints, and “Firstly” and “Secondly” make the first body paragraph easy to follow. However, progression within some points is unclear. The example about poor people paying for rooms, treatments and medicines does not clearly connect to the claim about government providing lower-cost medicines, and “From this fear” has an unclear reference. Some linking is also mechanical, with repeated “also” and “Furthermore.” Make each paragraph develop one central point in a clear sequence, and use precise references and transitions.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “medical research,” “public health,” “financial support,” “treatments,” and “profits,” so the main ideas are generally understandable. There are also attempts at more specific language, such as “skilled people” and “lower cost.” However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, which makes parts of the response awkward: “new researches,” “cost highly,” and “charge high price on medicines.” Spelling errors such as “intead” and “responsibilty” also reduce accuracy. Build a more precise set of phrases for discussing funding, access and medical innovation, and check spelling and word forms during revision. For example, use “research findings” rather than “researches.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mixture of simple and complex sentences, including a concession in “although private companies can also contribute” and a relative clause in “which helps scientist to discover…”. These structures help express relationships between ideas, but errors occur often enough to make some sentences difficult to follow. Examples include subject–verb agreement in “the government have to” and “the government contribute,” and the incomplete construction “encourage them find better treatments.” The sentence beginning “This cost highly” is also grammatically unclear, while missing spaces after full stops affect punctuation. Practise checking agreement, verb patterns after “encourage,” and complete sentence structure. Shorter, accurate sentences would make your reasoning clearer while you build control of more complex forms.

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.