Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-11-09

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)

Nowadays, an increasing figure of individuals with health problems are having alternative medicines and treatments rather than visiting their usual doctor. I think it is a negative development because experimenting on yourself instead of visitng a speacialist will result in increasing the problem. People take advice from other person or from social media having similar problem which is very dangerous.

Some people just try the alternative treatment and medicine instead visiting the speacialist. They think that they will cure the problem on their own.This can be dangerous for their health.Doctors are specialized in treating patients daily and they will examine better than any one else. If a person is just trying to treat the problem with himself, It will result in worsening the problem rather than curing this. For instance, a person having the heart problem think that doing aerobic exercise will cure the health health. This can result in some serious concequences as the cure might be a stunt or open heart surgery.

People take advice from other person having the same problem or some social media platform.This can be dangerous as the anotomy of every person is different. The condtion of every person is not same. People scroll the social media and find the cure of the problem which can be given by an unprofessional person. That person may be a doctor or may be not. Social media can have negative effects on a person following that advice. For example, a very popular advice given by people of south Asia for the treatment of epyleptic seizure is sniffing the boots.There is no scientific evidence in it. Sniffing the shoes can increase the seizures or might cause other problems.

In conclusion, health problem cannot be treated by trying alternatives rather than visiting a specialist. Visit a doctor instead of experimenting on yourself or taking advice from the person or social media.These both can increase the problem rather than curing.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

Your position is clear from the introduction: you consider replacing a doctor with alternative treatments a negative development, and the conclusion reinforces this view. You address the main concern through two relevant lines of reasoning: self-treatment may worsen illness, and advice from social media or non-specialists may be unsafe. The examples, including exercise for a heart problem and the claim about sniffing boots for seizures, help make the risks concrete. This meets the task well, while some ideas are less fully developed than others: explain more precisely how delaying diagnosis or treatment could harm a patient, and clarify the heart-treatment example, whose reference to a “stunt or open heart surgery” is difficult to follow. More careful qualification would also avoid broad claims about all alternative treatments.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a coherent overall arrangement: an introduction states your view, two body paragraphs present separate reasons, and a conclusion restates your position. The examples generally appear alongside the point they support, and signposts such as “For instance” and “In conclusion” help readers follow the argument. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical because the same ideas and wording recur, particularly “dangerous,” “problem,” and “rather than curing.” Some links and references are also unclear: “These both” in the conclusion does not precisely identify the two practices, while “This” after the heart example has an uncertain reference. Use more varied transitions and make pronouns refer unmistakably to a specific idea or treatment.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate your argument, including “alternative treatments,” “specialist,” “scientific evidence,” and “epileptic seizure.” However, the range is limited by repeated general words such as “problem,” “person,” and “dangerous,” and several choices or spellings are inaccurate. For example, “an increasing figure of individuals” is an unnatural way to describe a growing number of people, and “anatomy” does not express the intended idea that people’s medical circumstances differ. Errors such as “speacialist,” “condtion,” and “epyleptic” are noticeable. Aim for more precise health-related vocabulary and check spelling; this would make the argument clearer and more natural without changing its meaning.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple sentences and attempts at more complex structures, including the conditional “If a person is just trying to treat the problem with himself, it will result…” and clauses introduced by “because” and “as.” The overall meaning is usually understandable, but some grammatical errors remain. For example, “instead of visitng” needs a gerund after “of,” and “a person … think” has a subject–verb agreement error. Sentence boundaries and punctuation are also inconsistent: “on their own.This” needs a space, and several sentences run directly into the next one. Review verb forms, agreement, and punctuation, while keeping the complex structures you attempt.

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