Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-28
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 contemprorary times, people are shifting to alternative methods for medicines and treatment instead of consulting to doctors for their health problems. In my opinion, this is a negative development reasons and explantions will be discussed in following paragraphs.
Doctors spend their plenty of time involved in academics to build a base for medical practice for treatment and diagnosis for range of disorders. Extensive studies and researchs are done to diagnose a patient correctly in order to prevent the current issue turning into more severe stage. Moreover, doctors go through extensive traning and tough examination to be a certified doctor and practice medical sciences further. These steps are crucial and are performed to mitigate any possibilities induced harm in treatment of any disorder.
Individuals who try to diagnose their own illness without any background knowledge of the field can harm themselves severly as if a wrong medication is taken for a prolonged period of time can damage several fit parts of body in rare cases can even lead to seizures or stroke. Therefore, if any individuals tries to self diagnose themselves that and start a treatment for it can turn out to be very dangerous.
In my opinion, individuals suffering from any illness for a prolonged period of time and a specific treatment is not helping before changing the medication one should always consult their doctors.
In conclusion, One should always think of consulting with their doctor before trying any treatment or medication because self-diagnose can lead to seveal other diseases or even detoriate the present condition.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 6.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0
The response takes a clear position that the shift towards alternative medicines is a negative development. However, the essay focuses heavily on the merits of conventional doctors and the dangers of self-diagnosis rather than explicitly discussing alternative medicine modalities, such as herbal remedies or acupuncture, which forms the core of the prompt. While the arguments presented regarding professional medical training and the risks of delaying proper treatment are relevant and supported, the development tends to blur the distinction between 'alternative medicine' and 'self-diagnosis'. Consequently, the task is addressed adequately, but the core issue of alternative treatments is only partially explored, aligning with a Band 6.0 performance under the task response descriptors.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear stance established in the introduction and reinforced in the conclusion. Paragraphing is utilised, though the body paragraphs are somewhat disjointed. Cohesive devices are occasionally mechanical or misused, such as the transition 'Therefore, if any individuals tries to self diagnose themselves that and start a treatment'. Referencing is sometimes unclear, and the sentence structures within the transitions between paragraphs can disrupt the natural flow. These limitations place the coherence and cohesion of the response securely within the Band 6.0 bracket, as the progression is occasionally faulty.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, but contains noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text. Examples include 'contemprorary', 'researchs', 'traning', 'severly', and 'detoriate'. There are also awkward collocations, such as 'induced harm' and 'fit parts of body'. While the student attempts less common vocabulary like 'mitigate' and 'prolonged', the frequency of spelling mistakes and inaccuracies prevents the score from reaching a higher band. The lexical range is sufficient to communicate the main points, but the errors require the reader to occasionally decode the intended meaning, justifying a Band 5.5 score.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some variety. However, there are frequent grammatical errors and punctuation lapses that affect clarity. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('if any individuals tries') and awkward phrasing ('reasons and explantions will be discussed in following paragraphs'). Additionally, run-on sentences and missing prepositions ('consulting to doctors') detract from the overall grammatical control. Because the errors are frequent and occasionally cause difficulty for the reader, but communication is still maintained, the performance fits the Band 5.5 descriptors.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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