Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-16

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 the modern world, people are now more conscious about their health than before. The growing number of people are now so anxious about their healthy lifestyle that they often think doctors' prescription are less effective for them and they believe they can take medicine from other sources. It seems to me that its a negative development.

To begin with, doctors are specialist on their particular disciplines so patients should obey their medication and treatments as prescribed because recovery takes time. If a patient stops their medication in middle of any treatment procedure, he will not get effective results from the treatment from that. Additionally, patients are so vulnerable in many cases such as diabetes and high blood pressure. These diseases are so fatal that people cannot stop medication of these diseases. If they stop medication that cause their life instead. For example, a 65 years old diabetic patient in India suddenly held taking subsidiary insulin rather took medicines from a local tantric, eventually, the patient died of high sugar.

Furthermore, alternative medicines are not certified by any regulatory bodies especially in the developing countries. Many companies in those countries try to counterfeit the medicines from popular drug agencies to get financially benefitted. So, if the patients fail to verify the medication that cause many harms to them. Besides, if the medication does not work, the patient face many challenges.

In conclusion, it seems to me that growing number of people with major health problems are trying alternative medicines and treatments is a negative development because of its ineffectiveness and inappropriateness including it can cause many health concerns for them.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

Your position is clear from the introduction—“it’s a negative development”—and remains consistent in the conclusion. You address the question with two relevant reasons: stopping prescribed treatment can be dangerous, and alternative products may be unreliable. The diabetic-patient example also helps illustrate the first point. This meets the task well, but the support is uneven: the risks of stopping medication are explained more fully than the claims about counterfeit medicines, which would benefit from a clearer explanation or a specific example. The response also focuses mainly on the dangers of alternatives rather than exploring when or why people choose them. Developing the second reason and making the supporting evidence more precise would strengthen the argument further.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, two body paragraphs organised around separate reasons, and a conclusion that restates your view. Signposting such as “To begin with,” “Furthermore,” and “In conclusion” makes the progression easy to follow. The example is placed appropriately within the first body paragraph. However, some links between ideas are mechanical or unclear. For instance, “If they stop medication that cause their life instead” does not clearly express the intended consequence, and “Besides, if the medication does not work” introduces a point without explaining how it connects to the preceding claim. Use more precise referencing and explain the relationship between each supporting point so that cohesion feels more natural.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “prescription,” “medication,” “regulatory bodies,” and “counterfeit,” which helps communicate the subject. However, the range and control are limited by repeated general terms such as “medicine,” “treatment,” and “diseases,” as well as several inaccurate or unnatural expressions. Examples include “doctors are specialist,” “held taking subsidiary insulin,” and “get financially benefitted”; these make parts of the argument difficult to interpret. Some word choices also obscure meaning, as in “that cause their life instead.” Aim to learn common health-related collocations and choose precise terms—for example, distinguish prescribed medication from unregulated remedies. More accurate phrasing would make your ideas clearer and demonstrate greater flexibility.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including conditional structures such as “If a patient stops their medication…” and a reason clause beginning “because recovery takes time.” This shows some range, but control is inconsistent, and errors sometimes make the meaning difficult to follow. For example, “The growing number of people are” has subject–verb disagreement, while “doctors’ prescription are” has a number-agreement problem. In “If they stop medication that cause their life instead,” the clause structure and verb form are unclear. There are also errors with articles, plurals, and sentence boundaries. Review agreement, articles, and the construction of conditional sentences, then proofread each sentence to ensure its subject and verb match and its meaning is complete.

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