Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-20

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)

Recently, an increasing number of population with adverse health conditions are using alternative medications and treatments instead of going to their regular doctor. In my opinion, this is a positive development because using similar medications for long time can make them resistance to the patients, while using alternative drugs or mitigation strategies according to the patients own genetic make up can facilitate their recovery quicker.

The first and foremost benefit of using alternatives is that it aids the individuals to combat with multi-drug resistance. For example, most of the microbrobes are being resistance to available antibiotics due to excessive use or long term use, as the regular doctors always prescribe more or less the similar medications. Consequently, the medicines are unable to work properly for particular diseases and the patients are not able to get the fruitful outcomes.

Additionally, this practice also assists the patients to fight with the diseases that require dynamic medication range depending on their progessions. For instance, diseases cause by certain viruses can not be cured fully by single drug, as they change their stain and mode of infection very frequently. To control such diseases like AIDS, the medication should be changed parallelly with the disease prograssion, which is quite impossible by following consultancy of the usual doctor. However, using medicines or treaments without the consent of any medical expert can be also dangerous. People must be careful about choosing any new drugs and treatments and must be consulted with any medical professionals before adopting them.

In conclusion, my stance is that choosing alternative medications and treatments by the public with poor medical condition is a positive development rather than visiting regular doctor. This is beacuse, despite having slight drawbacks, this practice is more convenient as they enable the patients to combat against multi-drug resistance organism as well as frequently strain changing microbes, giving alternative mitigation strateries against many fetal diseases.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear: you consider the use of alternative treatments a positive development, and you give two relevant reasons—possible drug resistance and the need to adapt treatment as diseases change. The examples about antibiotics and viral illnesses help explain your argument, and you acknowledge a risk by advising consultation with medical professionals. However, the support is uneven. The claim that regular doctors prescribe similar medicines, and that changing treatment is “quite impossible” through their advice, is too broad and needs qualification or evidence. The discussion also blurs alternative medicine with changing prescribed medication. Clarify what you mean by alternatives and develop the safety point further so that all parts of your argument are more fully supported.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction states your view, two body sections present reasons, and a conclusion restates your position. Sequencing expressions such as “For example,” “Additionally,” and “In conclusion” make the progression easy to follow. Some links, however, are mechanical, and the relationship between ideas is not always clear. In the second body paragraph, the move from changing viral strains to AIDS and then to the claim that usual doctors cannot manage treatment needs a more explicit explanation. The contrast beginning “However” is useful, but the safety warning feels briefly added rather than integrated into the argument. Use clearer referencing and transitions that show how each example supports your central claim.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You attempt a range of topic-specific vocabulary, including “multi-drug resistance,” “antibiotics,” “genetic make up,” and “mitigation strategies.” These choices show an effort to discuss health issues precisely, but inaccurate word forms, spelling, and collocations sometimes make the meaning less clear. Examples include “microbrobes,” “resistance to the patients,” “change their stain,” and “fetal diseases”; the intended terms appear to be “microbes,” “resistant,” “strain,” and “fatal diseases.” Phrases such as “combat with” and “fruitful outcomes” are also unnatural in this context. Aim for accurate, conventional medical collocations rather than more elaborate wording, and check spelling carefully, especially for technical terms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use both simple and complex sentence forms, including clauses introduced by “because,” “while,” and “as,” and most of the argument remains understandable. Some grammatical errors occur across the response, particularly with articles, agreement, verb forms, and sentence construction. For example, “an increasing number of population” needs a different noun phrase, while “diseases cause by certain viruses” requires a corrected verb form. In “the medication should be changed parallelly with the disease prograssion,” the sentence pattern is awkward and the relationship between the clauses is unclear. There are also inconsistent constructions in the final sentence. Review article use and subject–verb agreement, and simplify sentences when a complex structure becomes difficult to control.

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