Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-02

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 todays, world a huge number of indiviuals are suffring from health issues like anxiety, high blood pressure or diabetes.

They are experimenting with unconventional mediciens and medical approaches rather than consulting their regular physician. While i acknowledge that there are some advantages to this approach, I belive it is largely a negative development.

One reason people trun to alternative medicine is cost and accessibility. In many countries, healthcare is expensive and appointments take long time. Treatments such as herbal remedies, yoga or traditional massage are often cheaper and more readily available. Furthermore, some patients are concerned about the side effects of medical drugs and perfer natural solutions.

For instance, many indiviuals use meditation and dietary changes to manage stress instead of taki g sleeping pills

Despite these benefits relaying solely on mediciens are dangerous for the patients because they are already suffering from the diesease. Moreover these people didn't concern to professional doctors about there health issues because they can't afford the expensive consultation fee of the doctor thats why these indiviuals find different apporaches like going to unprofessional doctors which violate medical ethics, dispute patient care and misdiagnosing conditions, failing to follow hygiene protocols(like not washing hands), or ruhing appointments.

In conclusion, while the alternative medical treatments may offer benefits for minor health issues and help reduces the stress or healthcare costs, the risks of delaying proper medical treatments outweigh these advantages.Therefore I belived this trend is a negative development. People should consult qualified doctors for diagnosis and use alternative treatments.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position that the trend is negative. The main ideas—cost, accessibility, and the risks of unprofessional care—are relevant. However, the development is somewhat uneven. While the reasons for the trend are clear, the discussion on the dangers of alternative medicine could be more nuanced. The argument regarding 'unprofessional doctors' is a bit repetitive and could have been better structured to contrast with the benefits mentioned earlier. Overall, the position is consistent throughout the essay, and the conclusion effectively summarizes the main argument.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, with a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'Furthermore', 'For instance', and 'In conclusion' are used to link ideas. However, there are instances where the flow is slightly mechanical or awkward, particularly in the second body paragraph where the sentence structure becomes long and convoluted, making it harder to follow the progression of ideas. Referencing is generally clear, but some transitions between sentences could be smoother to improve the overall readability of the argument.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the student to express ideas clearly. There are attempts to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'unconventional medicines', 'consulting', and 'medical ethics'. However, there are several spelling errors (e.g., 'indiviuals', 'suffring', 'mediciens', 'perfer', 'ruhing') and some awkward collocations like 'didn't concern to professional doctors'. While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the message, they indicate a need for more careful proofreading and a wider range of precise vocabulary to reach a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the student attempts complex sentences, there are frequent grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('alternative medical treatments may offer benefits... help reduces'), missing articles, and punctuation errors. For example, 'In todays, world' contains an unnecessary comma and a missing apostrophe. The sentence 'Moreover these people didn't concern to professional doctors...' is grammatically weak and confusing. Despite these errors, the meaning is generally conveyed, and the errors do not cause significant difficulty for the reader.

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