Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

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

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 times, individual who are suffering from illnesses are trying to treat themselves by using different and changed medicines for their treatment, this number is growing rapidly. People are now avoiding to visit their usual doctor. This attitude of people can result from high fees that doctors nowdays are charging, even for simple checkup and people can not afford these fees anymore. It can also be because of wide access of informations about medicines which is easily available on internet today. In my view this is positive development even though it may not be a right way to treat the health issues.

The main reason why i hold this view is that, for some people it is hard to afford the medical visits with there doctors anymore, because of the growing prices and expensive treatments, so individuals turn to alternative ways to treat themselves. Now a days it is quite common to use natural herbs seeds for treatments of different health concerns like for example, black seeds are known for its reversing the gray hair phenomena and it is cheaper then taking suplements for this issues therefore, people are turning to these alternative methods.

However, we can not oversee the problems of these alternative ways. Sometimes these methods would not work on few individuals and maybe it has opposite affect on some people. Moreover treating health concern without the supervision of an expert can almost be dangerous for health in some causes. For instance, treating more seriouse health issues such as piles with alternative medicines can cause it to get worst then better.

In conclusion, even though treating all the health concers by alternative methods can not be always successful. I still firmly agree that using new ways to deal with minor heath concerns can be beneficial and also affordable, so no need to visit your usual doctor all the time.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear: you consider alternative treatments positive when used for minor concerns, while acknowledging that they may be unsafe for serious conditions. You address both the reasons people turn to them and the risks, and the examples of black seeds and piles are relevant to the topic. However, the support is uneven. The claim that black seeds can reverse grey hair is presented without explanation or qualification, and the discussion of affordability could be developed by explaining how cost leads people to choose particular treatments. Your conclusion narrows your position to minor health concerns, but this qualification could be made clearer earlier. Develop the examples more carefully and distinguish safe self-care from replacing professional treatment.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph explaining why people choose alternatives, a paragraph outlining risks, and a conclusion. The contrast signalled by “However” helps the reader follow the shift to disadvantages, while “In conclusion” makes the ending easy to identify. This coherent arrangement meets the lower-band expectations, and there is some effective progression between the main points. To make the flow more consistently smooth, avoid packing several causes and claims into long sentences, and make links between examples and the point they support more explicit. For instance, the black-seed example would benefit from a sentence explaining how it illustrates affordability or the appeal of alternative treatments. Some transitions and phrasing feel formulaic rather than fully integrated.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate your main ideas, including “alternative medicines,” “supervision of an expert,” “natural herbs,” and “medical visits.” There are also attempts at more specific expressions, such as “reversing the gray hair phenomena,” though this wording is not natural or precise. Several spelling and word-choice errors—such as “informations,” “affect” where “effect” is intended, and “concerns” misspelled as “concerns” in some instances—make the language less controlled. Phrases such as “changed medicines” and “opposite affect” are also unclear or awkward. Build accuracy by learning common collocations for health and treatment, and check spelling and word forms carefully; this will make your adequate range more precise and easier to read.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentences, including cause-and-effect clauses with “because” and a contrast introduced by “even though.” Most of the argument remains understandable, but some grammatical errors recur. For example, “individual who are suffering” needs plural agreement, “there doctors” should use a possessive form, and “black seeds are known for its” has a mismatch between the plural subject and pronoun. There are also problems with articles and sentence boundaries, as in the opening sentence, which joins several ideas with commas. Practise subject–verb agreement, possessives, and punctuation, and divide long sentences where necessary. More accurate control of these patterns would make your complex sentences clearer.

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