Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-13

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, many people prefer alternative medicines and treatment instead of visiting the doctor when they have any kind of health problems. Alternative treatments provide relaxation and health benefits, but i beleive that this is the negative development, because it cannot give proper medical treatment and individuals put their life at risk all the time.

The disadvantage of alternative medicine is that it may not give a proper treatment to serious illness. Many people use herbal medicines and home remedies without know that medically perfect for their body. As a result, their health may become more worse with the passage of time. For example, if a person is suffering from the fever or serious infection might use herbal medicine instead of perscriped medicine could lead a serious issue and complications. Therefore, it is better to visit the qualified doctor for the accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment.

Moreover, people waste their money to alternative treatment that has been not proven to work. On the other hand, alternative medicines provider also do false promises that their medicine will work, they also stop people to go to the regular doctor and use their medicines. This can be very harmful for those patient which are having serious diseases like diabetes, sugar and heart problem. So in my opinion, alternative medicines should never replace a qualified doctor and his medicine care.

However, alternative treatments include massage, meditation help to reduce stress and some tiredness. In Conclusion, Alternative treatments are the negative development, they may offer some additional benefits like quick relaxation and pain relief. But, qualified doctor is essential for the people which are having chronic diseases.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

Your position is clear from the introduction: you consider replacing a usual doctor with alternative treatment a negative development. You support this with relevant points about delayed treatment for serious illness, unproven remedies, and false promises, and you acknowledge benefits such as relaxation and pain relief. This covers the task well. The examples about infection and chronic conditions are relevant, but some claims remain broad, and the final paragraph’s benefits are only briefly explained. To strengthen the response further, develop one example in more detail—for instance, explain how delaying diagnosis could worsen a specific condition—and clarify that complementary treatments may be useful alongside, rather than instead of, medical care.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, two paragraphs explaining disadvantages, and a concluding paragraph that recognises limited benefits while restating your position. Linking expressions such as “As a result,” “Moreover,” and “However” help show the relationships between ideas. At times, though, the progression feels mechanical, and connections within sentences are not always clear. For example, the sentence beginning “On the other hand” does not present a genuine contrast with the preceding point about wasted money; it adds another disadvantage. The reference in “their medicine” is also unclear. Use transitions that match the relationship between ideas, and organise each body paragraph around one main point with a clear explanation and example.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “herbal medicines,” “accurate diagnosis,” “serious infection,” and “chronic diseases,” so the reader can follow your main argument. There are also attempts at more specific expressions, such as “false promises” and “pain relief.” However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or repetitive, including “medically perfect for their body,” “more worse,” and “medicine care.” Spelling errors such as “beleive,” “perscriped,” and “treatments provider” also reduce precision. Build a more reliable range by learning common health-related collocations and checking word forms and spelling; this will make your ideas sound more natural without requiring unnecessarily complex vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including a conditional example beginning “if a person is suffering” and a contrast introduced by “However.” The main argument is generally understandable, but errors occur across sentence structures and often make individual sentences difficult to follow. For example, “if a person is suffering from the fever or serious infection might use…” lacks a complete, correctly connected clause, while “alternative treatments include massage, meditation help…” has an unclear sentence structure. There are also errors with articles, agreement, and verb forms, as in “those patient which are having.” Practise building complete clauses first, then combine them with accurate conditionals and relative clauses; check each sentence for a clear subject and verb.

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