Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

In recent yeras, a growing number of people experiencing mild or choronic health complaints, they have turned into natural remedies or alternatives medicines treatments instead of consulting conventional doctors. While alternatives approaches can offer certain benefits or minor side effects, I believe that relying on them as a primary treatments creates several risks, leading a negative development for public health.

Alternatives medicines certainly has value when treating mionr, lifestyle-related health problems. Most alternatives remedies, from herbal areas, are driven from natural sources and tend to produce fewer side effects than human pharmaceutical drugs. For individuals suffering from mild pain or issues like back pain or stress, occasional insomenia, or digestive discomfort, these gentle approaches can relieve symptoms effectively without placing unnecessary strain on the body. For instance, when my father suffer from a indigestion due to hugh work stress, his general practitors actually his doctors suggested a simple lifestle changes and safe herbal tea instead of strong chenical medicine.

On the other hand, depending entirely on alternatives treatments for serioues illness is very dangerous. Major diseases like cancer and diabetes or severe infections need fast medical help and some scientific tests, and proper prescription drugs, patients who wait to see regular doctors and rely on unproven remedies often get much worse. Furthermore, the alternative medicine market is not strictly regualted and prevent in many places, which means people can easily waste money on fake products or bad advice from unqulified people.

In conclusion, while natural remedies can be useful for minor daily health issues, using them to replace professional medical care is a negative trend. People should keep a balanced approach by visting certified doctrs for serious conditios and using natural treatments only safe extra option.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

Your position is clear throughout: you acknowledge that alternative remedies may help with minor complaints, but argue that replacing professional care is a negative development. Both sides are relevantly addressed, and the examples of mild symptoms and serious illnesses support your reasoning. The personal example about your father also helps illustrate the limited, complementary role you see for herbal remedies. To strengthen the response further, develop the supporting points with more precise explanation: for example, explain how delayed diagnosis can worsen a serious condition, or give a clearer example of the risks from unregulated products. Some claims, such as remedies generally causing fewer side effects, are broad and would benefit from qualification. Overall, the task is answered clearly, with relevant support, though some ideas could be extended more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The response has a clear overall progression: the introduction states your view, the second paragraph recognises possible benefits, the third explains the risks, and the conclusion restates your position. Paragraphing is appropriate, and signposts such as “On the other hand” and “In conclusion” make the argument easy to follow. The ideas within each paragraph are generally ordered logically, moving from a claim to examples or consequences. To make the organisation more polished, connect some details more explicitly: the list of symptoms in the benefits paragraph could be followed by a clearer link to why these cases are suitable for self-care, while the risks paragraph could distinguish delayed treatment from financial harm. A few transitions feel formulaic, but the progression remains clear and coherent.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You attempt a relevant range of topic vocabulary, including “natural remedies,” “conventional doctors,” “side effects,” “prescription drugs,” and “unregulated.” These choices help communicate the contrast between complementary treatments and professional care. However, frequent spelling errors and inaccurate word forms or collocations reduce precision and sometimes make the reader pause. Examples include “alternatives medicines,” “driven from natural sources,” “serious illness,” and “bad advice from unqualified people”; more standard forms would be “alternative medicine,” “derived from natural sources,” “serious illnesses,” and “misleading advice from unqualified practitioners.” Several misspellings, such as “choronic” and “regualted,” also stand out. Build accuracy with careful proofreading and practise common health-related collocations alongside the vocabulary itself.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You try to use both simple and more complex structures, including a contrast clause beginning “While” and a conditional idea about patients who delay seeing doctors. The overall meaning is usually recoverable, but errors in sentence construction, agreement, articles, and verb forms are frequent enough to affect fluency. For example, “a growing number of people …, they have turned” joins two clauses incorrectly; “Alternative medicines certainly has value” has a subject–verb agreement problem; and “when my father suffer from a indigestion” contains errors in verb form and article use. The sentence beginning “Major diseases…” also becomes a run-on as several points are joined without clear grammatical links. Aim for complete, controlled sentences first, then add complex clauses and check agreement and articles.

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