Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-11-12

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)

I am a firm believer in modern medicines and I think choosing alternative forms can have an adverse effect on existing health issues.

Most people have started avoiding medical intervention for the fear of side effects. They hear rumours or sometimes even see close ones suffering from complications while treating their prevailing health problems. So an increasing amount of people are leaning towards alternatives such as herbal medicine or different varities of therapy. I see this as a negative development. These methods may be useful at times. However, what people seem to ignore is the slow action of these methods, given they are effective. Modern medicine works fast and usually strives to give a permanent solution. There is always new research taking place in the field of medicine to upgrade the quality of treatment. Doctors train their whole professional life to give the right treatment to patients. They use their knowledge, skills and expertise in their respective fields of medicine to take a holistic approach in prescribing medicine and suggesting any intervention. Such treatment cannot be compared with unproven 'natural' methods. I experienced the negative effect of this development first hand with my grandmother. She has been suffering from a skin disease that made her feet red, swollen and flaky. She choose heat therapy instead of going to a dermatologist as she feared having to take medicines that will have side effects. The heat therapy gave her ease but the disease never quite left. She eventually had to visit a dermatologist to cure the disease after a prolonged period of suffering. Many people, like my grandmother, suffer for longer due to their fear of side effects. The responsibility is also on the shoulder of doctors and public health workers to educate people and gain their trust on receiving conventional treatment

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

Your position is clear from the opening and remains consistent: you regard replacing a usual doctor with alternative treatments as negative. You address the reasons people turn to these methods, compare them with conventional care, and support your view with your grandmother’s experience. The example is relevant and shows how temporary relief did not resolve the underlying condition. To strengthen the response further, develop some claims with more qualification or explanation. For instance, the statements that modern medicine “works fast” and “usually strives to give a permanent solution” are broad and may overstate what medical treatment can achieve. Explain more precisely why professional diagnosis and evidence-based treatment are generally safer, while acknowledging that alternative approaches may sometimes complement medical care.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall progression: it introduces your view, explains why people choose alternatives, contrasts these with conventional medicine, and gives a personal example. Linking expressions such as “However,” “So,” and “eventually” help show relationships between ideas. The main limitation is that the essay is presented as one long paragraph, so the shifts from general explanation to your evaluation and then to the grandmother’s example are not visually clear. Some connections are also abrupt, particularly the final move to doctors’ and public health workers’ responsibilities. Use separate paragraphs for the argument and example, and add a sentence explaining how public education follows from the problems described. This would make the progression easier to follow and cohesion less dependent on simple transitions.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of topic-related vocabulary, including “medical intervention,” “side effects,” “dermatologist,” “prevailing health problems,” and “holistic approach.” These choices communicate the subject clearly, and the personal example is described with relevant terms such as “swollen” and “flaky.” However, some less common expressions are not fully natural or precise: “an increasing amount of people” is an awkward choice for countable people, and “gain their trust on receiving” is unclear. There is also a spelling error in “varities.” Aim for more accurate collocations and avoid broad phrases such as “permanent solution” when a more precise description is possible. Greater consistency in natural word combinations would make your vocabulary more flexible and controlled.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including subordinate clauses in “what people seem to ignore is the slow action of these methods” and the explanation of your grandmother’s condition. Most meaning remains clear, but some grammatical errors occur. For example, “She choose heat therapy” should be “She chose heat therapy,” and “medicines that will have side effects” would fit the past-tense context better as “medicines that might have side effects.” The final sentence also needs a clearer grammatical construction: “the responsibility is also on the shoulder of doctors” could be expressed as “doctors and public health workers also have a responsibility.” Check verb forms and sentence patterns during revision, while continuing to use complex clauses.

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