Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-28

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, health is one of the most important aspect of human life. Some people believe that medical research project are funded by private companies. While others argue that government must take over all the responsibility of all the necessary research projects. In my opinion, the government should play the main role, although private companies can also contribute significantly.

On the one hand, government should provide all the healthcare facilities to all citizens. They should build hospital, employ qualified doctors, and provide essential medicines at reasonable prices. Moreover, Government can organize awareness campaigns to educate people about health eating, diet, regular exercise, and the danger of smoking. These measures can help prevent disease and improve the overall health of society. For example, if a person suffering from hearth disease and their family cannot afford the treatment, it is the government's responsibility to provide them with proper medical care.

On the other hand, private companies can invest a large amount of money in medical research and develop new medicine and treatments. They often have a advanced technology and skilled researchers who can work efficiently. For example, pharmaceutical companies can develop new drugs to treat serious disease such as cancer and heart problems. Furthermore, competition between companies may encourage innovation and improve the quality of medical treatments.

In conclusion, although private companies and individuals can make valuable contribution to medical research, I believe that government should provide the main financial discoveries benefit society as a whole, regardless of people's financial circumstances. Individuals must adopt healthy habits to lead longer and happier lives.

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

Your position is clear: you favour government taking the main role while allowing private companies to contribute. You give relevant reasons, including public access to care and companies’ investment, technology and competition, with examples such as developing cancer treatments. However, the response only partly fulfils the question because much of the first body paragraph discusses healthcare provision and public-health campaigns rather than who should fund or conduct medical research. The role of individuals is mentioned only briefly in the conclusion and is not explained. The final sentence also shifts to personal healthy habits without connecting this point to research. Develop the comparison directly—for example, explain why public funding should prioritise research with broad social benefit, and what limits or responsibilities private funders should have.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, two contrasting body paragraphs and a conclusion. The signposts “On the one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “In conclusion” make the broad progression easy to follow, and examples are placed alongside the relevant claims. However, the first body paragraph moves from research funding to hospitals, treatment costs and awareness campaigns, so its connection to the central question is not always clear. The conclusion also introduces healthy habits, which does not follow directly from the discussion of research funding. Some linking is mechanical, and the reference in “They should build hospital” is not fully clear after the singular “government.” Keep each paragraph focused on one aspect of the question and use transitions that show the relationship between claims, rather than relying mainly on standard signposts.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “medical research,” “pharmaceutical companies,” “skilled researchers,” “innovation” and “financial circumstances.” These terms help make the response relevant and understandable. However, the range is limited in places, and several word-choice, form or spelling errors reduce precision: “health eating” is unclear, “hearth disease” appears to mean heart disease, and “financial discoveries” does not express the intended idea. Phrases such as “all the necessary research projects” and “a large amount of money” are also broad or repetitive. Aim for more precise language about funding and research, such as “allocate public funds to clinical research” or “develop evidence-based treatments,” and check spelling and collocations carefully. This would make your argument clearer and more natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including a concession in “although private companies can also contribute significantly” and a conditional example beginning “if a person…”. The main ideas are generally understandable, but errors in agreement, articles, plurals and sentence construction occur across the response. For example, “one of the most important aspect” needs a plural noun, “medical research project are” has a number mismatch, and “They should build hospital” needs a plural or an article. The conclusion’s phrase “government should provide the main financial discoveries benefit society” is structurally incomplete and obscures your meaning. Practise checking each sentence for a clear subject and verb, and use complex structures only when you can control their clauses. Editing agreement and article use would improve accuracy.

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