Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-07-25

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)

Nowadays, a growing number of individuals wth health issues are trying alternative medicines and treatments instead of visiting their usual doctor. I think it as a negative development.

The main reasons why people with heart disease start trying looking for other alternative medicines and treatments is due to the inflluence of some fake herbal medical practitioners who trap people giving them false hopes that they would live longer and will be relieved from all sort of heart diseases if they come to these fake practitioners on regular intervals so they could keep paying them which is the actual reason for the bad intentions of such practitioners. People who got treatments from professional certified doctors for their heart issues actually start getting in the trap of the fake doctors who say that they will permanently cure their heart problems and people fall into such traps and start paying them more and more money than a regular professional doctor.

I believe it as a negative development because such search of alternative ways to cure heart diseases people could actually lose their lives and a lot of money making them financially unstable with a serious heart disease. I remember one of my friend's grandfather used to have some heart problems and he was going to the doctor regularly and started having improvements too in his health. But one day someone told him about some superstitious person who is expert in treating heart issues through some herbal medicine. He fell into the trap and went to the person. The person demanded a handsome amount of money and in return offered lifetime cure for all his heart issues. The grandfather fell into the trap and gave him the money. The next day the person who told my friend's grandfather about the supertitious herbal doctor and the fake doctor himself both flew away from the country leaving no trace of identity recognition. Hence such alternate practices can lead to multiple losses and it should not be encouraged.

In conclusion, falling into the traps of fake doctors for speedy recovery of heart problems should be avoided and discouraged in order to have a better life.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position that the trend is negative. You provide a central argument regarding the dangers of 'fake' practitioners and support this with a personal anecdote. However, the essay focuses almost exclusively on 'fake' practitioners rather than the broader topic of 'alternative medicines' (which can include legitimate practices like acupuncture or herbal supplements). By narrowing the scope significantly to fraud, the development is somewhat limited. To improve, ensure you address the concept of alternative medicine more broadly while maintaining your stance. The position is consistent throughout, and the conclusion effectively summarizes your viewpoint.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. You use some cohesive devices, such as 'The main reasons why' and 'In conclusion', to guide the reader. However, the flow between sentences is occasionally repetitive, particularly in the second paragraph where the phrase 'fall into the trap' is used multiple times. The transition between the general argument and the personal example is clear, but the use of cohesive devices could be more varied to improve the overall flow. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the introduction, body, and conclusion.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'financially unstable', 'superstitious', and 'identity recognition'. There are some spelling errors, such as 'wth' and 'inflluence', and some awkward phrasing like 'no trace of identity recognition'. While you successfully convey your meaning, the vocabulary is somewhat repetitive, especially regarding the description of fraudulent doctors. To reach a higher band, try to incorporate more precise collocations and avoid repeating the same phrases to describe the negative aspects of the situation.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While you are able to communicate your ideas clearly, there are frequent grammatical errors, such as 'I think it as a negative development' (should be 'I see this as...') and 'all sort of heart diseases' (should be 'all sorts of'). There are also issues with article usage and verb tense consistency. While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding your argument, they occur frequently enough to impact the overall fluency of the writing. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and preposition usage will help improve your accuracy.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.