Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-11-05

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Nowadays, a growing number of people with health problems are trying alternative medicines and treatments instead of visiting their usual doctor.

Do you think this is a positive or a negative development?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 6.0)

In the recent days it's been a common practice within the people to actually try alternative medicines and treatment instead of visiting usual doctors which is actually not a good practice according to my opinion.

As human it is very obvious to face health issues quite frequently and there are also certain treatment and medications for those health issues too. But nowadays a large number of people are actually trying to identify the problems with the help of internt through google or youtube, and which in most of the cases are not that accurate. So due to this people are taking wrong measures for their problems and sometimes they are taking wrong medicines too with the help of internegt which ultimately is becoming suicidal for them in the long run. Instead, if people tend to visit a doctor as soon as they notice any irregularities in their health it will certainly benefit them to identify the specific problems instantly with the help of tests and doctor can suggest them the suitable medicines which will ultimately help them to cure very soon.

I personally faced a similar issue few years back when my father was suffering from chest pain and we as usual thought it's heappening due to acidity and thus he ended up taking regular gastric tablets. In the long run it actually turned out to be a major heart attack for him and we had to run to the hospital for the tests and surgery with proper guidance of expert doctors.

So from my personal experience as well as my knowledge i always prefer and suggest people to visit a doctor as soon as they face any health irregularities instead of wasting time and trying alternate medicines by follwing your gut feelings or thorugh searching in internet.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

Your position is clear from the opening: you consider replacing a usual doctor with alternative treatment a negative development, and you maintain that view in the conclusion. You support it with relevant reasoning about unreliable online advice and the risk of taking unsuitable medication, then add a personal example involving your father’s chest pain and eventual heart attack. This gives the response a persuasive, task-focused core. To develop the argument further, distinguish more clearly between alternative treatments and self-diagnosis online, since the prompt is specifically about alternative medicines and treatments. The discussion also focuses mainly on risks; explaining briefly why people choose these options, or acknowledging a possible benefit before rebutting it, would make the response more fully developed and balanced.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall progression: it states your view, explains the dangers of relying on online information, gives a personal example, and ends with a recommendation. Paragraphing helps separate the main argument from the example and conclusion. However, the second paragraph carries several stages of reasoning in one long sequence, and links such as “So due to this,” “Instead,” and “which ultimately” make the connections feel somewhat mechanical. The shift from alternative treatments to searching Google or YouTube is also not clearly signposted. Use shorter, more focused paragraphs and make each one develop a distinct point; clearer references to the specific treatment choices would improve the flow and cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough vocabulary to communicate your main concerns, including “health issues,” “irregularities,” “suitable medicines,” and “expert doctors.” There are also attempts at more specific language, such as “major heart attack” and “proper guidance.” However, several expressions are imprecise or unnatural, including “common practice within the people,” “identify the problems,” and “cure very soon.” Repetition of “actually,” “wrong,” and “doctor” also limits flexibility. Spelling errors such as “internt,” “internegt,” “heappening,” and “follwing” are noticeable and reduce accuracy. Aim for more natural collocations and precise terms—for example, “seek medical advice” and “self-medicate”—and proofread carefully for spelling.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including conditional phrasing in “if people tend to visit a doctor…” and a relative clause in “which ultimately is becoming suicidal for them.” The main message remains understandable, but some sentence structures are awkward or incomplete. For example, “As human it is very obvious to face health issues” lacks a natural grammatical construction, while “we as usual thought it's heappening due to acidity” has an unclear tense pattern. There are also issues with articles, agreement, and sentence boundaries, particularly in the long second paragraph. Work on forming complete, controlled sentences and checking tense consistency; splitting long sentences would help you show a wider range without losing accuracy.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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