Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-30

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)

During the recent times, an increasing number of individuals with health problems are choosing alternative medicines and treatment instead of visiting their regular doctors. Although, some alternative treatments can provide benefits, I believe that it is negative development because they may delay proper medical treatment and can sometimes be unsafe.

On the other hand, one of the major downsides is that home remedies or alternative medicines prevent people from receiving appropriate treatment at right time. Many serious illnesses require accurate diagnosis and tested medication for the cureness. If patients rely solely, on alternative treatments, they might ignore symptoms that can create serious threat for them in the future. For instance, a person suffering from serious infection might choose herbal remedies which can worsen the situation.

Furthermore, another concern is that not all alternatives are scientifically tested and may lack safety and effectiveness. In addition, people may spend considerable amount of money on treatments that have little proven medical value. For example, some products can have detrimental effect on your health because they are not prescribed by the doctors. These home remedies and products can sometimes cause unwanted side effects. However, there are some medical procedures, like therapies, that can be useful if they are used alongside with conventional medical care. Nevertheless, they shouldn't be considered complete replacement for professional medical advisor.

In conclusion, although alternative treatment can have some benefits, I believe that replacing regular medical care is generally negative development because this delays proper treatment and may have bad side effects.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing the trend of using alternative medicines and clearly stating a position that it is a negative development. The writer presents relevant main ideas, such as the risk of delaying proper medical treatment and the lack of scientific testing for many alternative remedies, supporting them with examples like herbal treatments for serious infections. However, some ideas could be extended further with deeper explanation or broader supporting details. The position is maintained consistently throughout the essay, meeting the requirements for a Band 6.5 or 7.0 response in this criterion.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion, as well as distinct body paragraphs. Paragraphing is utilised appropriately to separate ideas. Cohesive devices are employed to link sentences and paragraphs, such as 'On the other hand', 'Furthermore', and 'In addition', though some transitional links like 'However' and 'Nevertheless' are slightly clustered in the third paragraph, making certain transitions feel somewhat mechanical. Referencing is generally clear, and the overall progression of ideas is logical enough for the reader to follow easily, aligning well with the Band 6.5 descriptors.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common lexical items such as 'conventional medical care', 'detrimental effect', and 'scientifically tested'. However, there are notable lexical and collocation inaccuracies throughout the text, such as 'negative development' missing an article ('a negative development'), 'the cureness' (should be 'a cure' or 'to be cured'), and 'solely, on' with unnecessary punctuation. Furthermore, phrases like 'bad side effects' are somewhat basic. These errors do not impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score to a Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating conditional and subordinate clauses such as 'Although, some alternative treatments can provide benefits...' and 'If patients rely solely...'. There are, however, several grammatical errors present, including missing articles ('a negative development', 'at right time' instead of 'at the right time'), incorrect comma placement ('solely, on'), and awkward preposition usage ('alongside with'). While these errors occur regularly, they rarely impede communication, allowing the response to comfortably secure a Band 6.0 for grammatical range and accuracy.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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