Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-04

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 a present era, a significant number of individuals with health issues are taking home remedies and other alternative treatments rather than consulting with their house doctor. I believe that it is a negative development among the people, as it generally cause delay diagonsis on serious health problem and side effect of unprescribed medicines.

First of all, the prominent one reason of why alternative medicines and treatment can be harmful is delay diagonsis. In other words, some home remedies help individual to cure from regular problems like cough or cold, it may become serious issue if an individual cannot properly analyze the problem with their doctor for further results. For instance, taking regular painkillers for stomach pain caused by a stone (like a gallstone or kidney stone) can be very risky and harmful. Thus, this leads to another major problems in human body as this has detrimental effect on body in future, if they are not taking serious, person may die as well.

Secondly, alternative cures have some obstructive impact as it may allergic and side effect on person's body. To explain it, instead of proper checkup and prescription from qualified doctor may cause allergy because doctors always prescribe the medicine as per the body health condition. Meanwhile, individuals can take any alternative without knowing the side effect of that medicine and this will be damaging for them. For example, 'The Economics Times' in 2012 reported that 15% of citizens were died because of the side effects and allergies of alternative. Therefore, taking unusual medicines like paracetamol, nimusuilde will have adverse effect.

In conclusion, I strongly believe that alternative medicines and treatments have detrimental impact on human body, generally because individual can neglact scientific cure, they just take common medicine which leads to delaying diagonsis and side effects of home remedies.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by taking a clear stance that relying on alternative medicine instead of consulting a doctor is a negative development. The essay presents two main ideas: delayed diagnosis and potential side effects or allergies. While the position is clear throughout, some ideas are slightly under-developed or lack sufficient extension. For instance, the explanation regarding the delayed diagnosis of a kidney stone is introduced with an example, but the reasoning could be expanded further to fully explore the consequences. The response successfully meets the criteria for this band by presenting a relevant and supported argument, while showing glimpses of higher-level extension through specific reasoning, though some points remain somewhat generalised.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a clear, logical progression of ideas from introduction to conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately, with distinct body paragraphs dedicated to each major point. Cohesive devices are employed to connect sentences, such as 'First of all' and 'Secondly', though referencing and transitions are at times mechanical or somewhat faulty, as seen in phrases like 'To explain it, instead of proper checkup and prescription from qualified doctor may cause allergy'. Paragraphs are generally well-managed, but the internal cohesion within sentences occasionally falters, placing the response firmly within this band while pointing toward clearer referencing for higher levels.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The writer uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task and attempts some less common items, such as 'detrimental effect', 'prescription', and 'qualified doctor'. However, there are noticeable inaccuracies in word choice, word form, and spelling throughout the text. Examples include 'house doctor' instead of 'family doctor', 'cause delay diagonsis' where 'diagnis' is misspelled, 'may allergic' instead of 'may cause allergies', and 'neglact' instead of 'neglect'. While these errors do not severely impede communication, they restrict the lexical score because of the frequency of word-choice slips and incorrect morphological forms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt at varied structures such as 'while individual can take any alternative without knowing the side effect...'. However, there are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation. Examples of structural and agreement issues include 'In a present era', 'it generally cause delay diagonsis' (subject-verb agreement), 'cure from regular problems' (preposition error), 'citizens were died' (passive voice error), and missing articles in 'alternative medicines and treatments have detrimental impact'. These errors reflect a mix of accurate simple structures alongside faulty complex ones, characteristic of this level of control.

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