Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-08

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)

Nowadays, an increasing number of individuals suffering from health issue are choosing alternative medicine instead of consulting their family doctor. Although, this approach may provide certain benefits in some case , I believe, that it is overall a negative development because it can delay proper treatment and may sometime put people heath at risk. My position is elaborate further with reasons and examples.

One of the main reason why I consider this development as negative is that alternative treatments may not always scientifically proven or suitable for serious medical condition. This is because people relay on traditional remedies based on personal experience rather than professional medical advice. Consequently, patients may delay visiting hospital for consultant of doctor allow their illness to become more serious. For example, a person suffering from serious infection might rely on herbal or local remedies and only seek medical assistance when the condition already out of control .

Another important factor that should be consideration is the impotence of professional diagnosis. Doctors are trained and have professional degree to identify underlying cause of illness which every individual can not find. To elaborate further, Doctor know that small infection has very bad outcome at last stage which we ignore and in results we have to suffer from big medical treatment spend more money. Therefore, replacing professional medical doctors with alternative medicine can result in incorrect medical treatment

To sum up, although alternative medicine has certain advantages, I believe, increasing use of alternative medicine is predominantly a negative development. This is mainly because it can delay accurate diagnosis and prevent people from receiving proper treatment.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task and maintains a clear position throughout. You have provided relevant reasons for your opinion, such as the risk of delaying professional diagnosis and the lack of scientific validation for alternative remedies. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. For example, the point about 'professional degrees' is a good start but could be expanded with more specific detail on how alternative medicine lacks the diagnostic tools (like blood tests or imaging) that doctors use. To reach a higher band, ensure that your supporting examples are more fully elaborated to demonstrate a deeper exploration of the topic.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. You use basic cohesive devices such as 'One of the main reasons', 'Another important factor', and 'To sum up' to guide the reader. However, the flow is occasionally interrupted by minor mechanical errors in sentence structure and punctuation, such as the comma usage in 'I believe, that it is'. Additionally, some transitions between sentences feel slightly repetitive. To improve, try to vary your linking words and ensure that the progression of ideas within paragraphs is smoother by using more sophisticated referencing and substitution.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'alternative medicine', 'professional diagnosis', and 'remedies'. However, there are several instances of word-choice errors and awkward collocations, such as 'consultant of doctor' (instead of 'consultation with a doctor'), 'impotence of professional diagnosis' (instead of 'importance'), and 'at last stage' (instead of 'at a late stage'). These errors occasionally hinder the precision of your argument. To achieve a higher score, focus on learning common collocations and ensuring that your word choices are contextually accurate.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, which is appropriate for this level. However, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, particularly regarding subject-verb agreement ('Doctor know', 'every individual can not find'), article usage ('visiting hospital'), and pluralization ('health issue', 'serious medical condition'). While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding your main points, they are frequent enough to impact the overall fluency of the essay. Focusing on proofreading for basic subject-verb agreement and article usage will significantly improve your accuracy.

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