Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

Seeking alternative treatments and therapies has become very common among the people facing health issues, instead of visiting their usual doctors. It may be due to the gradual increase in costs of consultancies, drugs, and other healthcare facilities, especially in developing countries where people can not afford them. It is a negative development because alternative ways to treat various diseases can cause an outbreak.

Somehow, it is justifiable that people, who can not bear the heavy bills of modern hospitals and medicines prefer comparatively cheap options to get rid of their issues. For instance, in a developing country, like Pakistan, patients prioritize to visit a diploma holder or quacks instead of a specialist, either for minor issues like haedache, flue, acidity etc or major ones, such as urinary tract infections, and genital problems, and they get cured.

But delayed early diagnosis leads to non-treatable stage of the condition, because simple headache can be due to early stage of tumor development in the brain, and simple acidity can be an early sign of an underlying cardiac issue. Similarly, minor respiratory condition can be turned out as a severe infectious disease, which should have been diagnosed earlier for proper response of treatment. For example, without proper lab tests, flue cannot be differentiated from the COVID-19, the deadly virus which has affected the whole world in 2019. Abuse of antimicrobial drugs without confirmed diagnosis creates a more serious concern regarding antimicrobial resistance.

It is evident that financial advantages of seeking alternatives instead of going to a specialist doctor do not outweigh the disadvantages. So, it must be ensured that a professional should be consulted, whenever it is needed to avoid the potential threats to human health.

Conclusively, one must visit the doctor for timely diagnosis and treatment.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

Your position is clear from the introduction: you regard replacing a usual doctor with alternative treatment as negative, and the conclusion reinforces the need for professional diagnosis. You address the financial reason people may choose cheaper options and explain risks through examples involving missed diagnoses, COVID-19, and antimicrobial resistance. These points are relevant and generally supported, which makes the response persuasive. Some claims, however, are broad or not fully explained: the statement that alternative treatments “can cause an outbreak” is not clearly connected to the later examples, and the Pakistan example says patients “get cured” without showing how this supports your argument about risks. Clarifying the distinction between qualified complementary care and unregulated treatment would make the reasoning more precise and consistently developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a recognisable progression: it introduces the issue and position, considers why people choose cheaper care, develops the health risks, and concludes with a recommendation. Paragraphing supports this overall arrangement, and transitions such as “But,” “Similarly,” and “So” help signal relationships between ideas. This is a coherent structure, though some links are mechanical or unclear. “Somehow” does not accurately introduce the concession, while “But delayed early diagnosis” leaves the connection between the preceding example and the risk somewhat abrupt. The final two sentences repeat the recommendation rather than adding a distinct concluding insight. Use more precise transitions and clearer references between examples and claims to make the progression smoother and cohesion less noticeable.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of topic vocabulary, including “underlying cardiac issue,” “infectious disease,” “confirmed diagnosis,” and “antimicrobial resistance.” These terms help communicate the medical risks and show attempts to use less common language. Some choices are inaccurate or unnatural, however, such as “costs of consultancies,” “diploma holder or quacks,” and “turned out as a severe infectious disease.” Spelling errors including “haedache” and “flue” also reduce accuracy, and “issues” is repeated where more specific terms would improve precision. Aim for natural collocations and check spelling carefully; for example, use “consultation fees,” “unlicensed practitioners,” and “develop into a serious infectious disease.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex structures, including a conditional clause (“where people can not afford them”) and longer sentences explaining possible consequences. Meaning is generally clear, but some grammatical errors remain. For example, “Seeking alternative treatments … has become very common among the people” has an awkward article pattern, and “patients prioritize to visit” uses an incorrect verb pattern; write “prioritise visiting.” In “delayed early diagnosis leads,” the phrasing creates an unclear grammatical relationship, while “whenever it is needed” would be clearer as “whenever necessary.” Punctuation in the long example sentence also makes the list difficult to follow. Review verb patterns, articles, and sentence boundaries, and divide heavily loaded sentences to improve control.

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.