Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-11-14

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 contemporary ara, people suffer from various kinds of medical problems compared to the past due to their bad lifestyle habbits. Nowadays, individuals do not consider their medical issues and they do not take it as a serious problem. At the same time, nowadays there is a trend that people try to use alternative medicines and treatments instead of visiting their usual doctor. I strongly believe that this can cause a negative impact on their life.

The most crucial thing after a diagnosis is to get an appropriate guidance from healthcare professionals to cure or manage the disease. Individuals should rely on doctors advises and should follow the instructions rather than changing treatment plans by trying alternative options. It can cause serious consequences. Firstly, alternative medicines can cause another side affects and may be a cause for additional medical problems. For example, some people try to use traditional medicines with their regular medicines for non-infectious diseases such as dibetes, hypertension and cancer. It can cause severe consequences such as drug reactions. It can cause organs failure or even death. Moreover, sometimes, they tend to omit their regular medication without a doctor's opinion. It also can be a life thretening desicion. So it is really important to visit their usual doctor regularly.

Furthermore, sometimes companies or individuals who run businesses related to healthcare sector can use patients' mental status to increase their profit by encouraging them to use their porducts or treamnent options. For instance, when an individual has a life-thretening disease like cancer, that person and family members may search for alternative medicines and treatment options to cure the cancer. In such situations, this can cause an excessive money and time waste without better results. Consequently, this may lead to reduce quality of life of the patient and family.

In conclusion, in my opinion alternative treatments and medicines can cause a negetive impact on peoples' life. Therefore, it is really important to visit usual doctor rather than searching for alternative medicines and treatments.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

Your position is clear from the introduction to the conclusion: you consider replacing a usual doctor with alternative treatments a negative development. You address the question with relevant reasons, including possible drug interactions, stopping prescribed medication, and financial and time costs for families dealing with cancer. The examples make the argument concrete. This meets the task well, though the discussion is not equally developed: the risks of combining treatments are explained more fully than the claim that businesses exploit patients, which would benefit from a clearer explanation or a specific example. To strengthen the response further, distinguish carefully between using alternative treatments alongside medical care and using them instead of a doctor, since the prompt focuses on the latter. The length requirement is met; 10 words copied from the prompt were not counted.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction states your view, two body paragraphs present separate reasons, and the conclusion restates your position. Sequencing words such as “Firstly,” “Moreover,” and “Furthermore” help readers follow the argument. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical, and repeated openings such as “It can cause” make the first body paragraph feel list-like. Some references are also unclear: in “In such situations, this can cause an excessive money and time waste,” “this” does not identify the cause precisely. Group related consequences into a more developed explanation and use pronouns only when their reference is unmistakable. These changes would make progression smoother while preserving your effective paragraph structure.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “healthcare professionals,” “alternative medicines,” “drug reactions,” and “life-threatening disease,” so the main ideas are generally clear. There are also attempts at more specific language, such as “non-infectious diseases” and “quality of life.” However, spelling errors and inaccurate word combinations are noticeable, including “habitts,” “side affects,” “organs failure,” and “money and time waste.” Some wording is also imprecise or repetitive, particularly repeated uses of “cause” and “negative impact.” Aim to check spelling carefully and learn common collocations as complete phrases, rather than translating them word by word. More precise phrasing would make your argument sound more natural and controlled.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple statements and longer sentences, including clauses introduced by “when” and “rather than,” and the overall meaning remains understandable. Some sentence patterns are handled effectively, such as “when an individual has a life-threatening disease like cancer.” However, there are some errors in agreement, articles, and sentence construction. For example, “they do not take it as a serious problem” has an unclear singular reference, while “It also can be a life-threatening decision” uses an awkward adverb position. In “this may lead to reduce quality of life,” the verb pattern after “lead to” is incorrect. Review verb patterns, article use, and pronoun agreement, then proofread each sentence for these points. Greater accuracy in these structures would improve control.

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