Nowadays, an increasing number of people with health problems are using alternative medicines and treatments instead of visiting their normal doctor. Do you think this is a positive or negative development?
Sample Response
Presently, more and more people cause health issues because they are using alternative drugs and treatments without proper medical help. I believe this is actually a negative development because it causes the disease to worsen.
To begin with, self-diagnosisself-examination of health tends to aggravate an otherwise treatable conditionan easily treatable disease. More specificallyTo make it more clear, by self–medicating without going to a doctor, patientsthey may not be able to detect an underlying conditionthe underlying disease, which may worsen their conditionexacerbate their disease. For instance, many studies show that the main cause of cancer progression today is underdiagnosis in the early stages because they self-medicate for minor pains at the beginning and then go to the doctor when it gets worse.
FurthermoreTo continue, in some cases, the use of alternative medicine can lead to another form of illness. More specificallyAs an explanation, alternative medicinesother drugs are often potentially harmfulnot good for the body, leading to various adverse physical symptomsvarious types of body discomfort. For example, a study conducted by the health department in Kerala shows that 90 % of people may develop allergiesare prone to allergies if they take medicine that is unsuitable for their bodiesa person takes medicine that is unsuitable for their body. HoweverOn the contrary, using alternative drugs and treatments can reduce time and moneytheir time and cost. Therefore, most people depend on self-medicationself medicines.
To sum up, nowadays, self-treatment is more popular because it can save time and reduce the cost of medicinesbecause of the time-consuming and reduced cost of the medicaments. However, I believe this is a negative developmentimpact because it may exacerbate their illness and it may alsoand also it may lead to another disease.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response maintains a clear negative position and supports it with two relevant risks of self-medication, using a straightforward paragraph structure. Its main limitation is that development becomes imprecise through questionable generalisations, awkward wording, and a brief positive point that is not integrated effectively; the slight under-length also restricts elaboration. The priority is to develop each risk with accurate reasoning and consistently precise language before adding any concession.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
A clear negative position is maintained and supported by two relevant main ideas, though some evidence is overgeneralised and the response is slightly under length.
Develop each negative consequence with credible, specific explanation and either integrate the cost-and-time concession fully or omit it.
Coherence and Cohesion
Paragraphing and overall progression are clear, but mechanical transitions and the abrupt positive point weaken the flow within the second body paragraph.
Use meaning-based transitions and arrange the concession so its relationship to the negative judgement is explicit.
Lexical Resource
There is adequate topic vocabulary, but recurring collocational and word-choice problems such as ‘self-examination,’ ‘self medicines,’ and ‘negative impact’ reduce precision.
Replace vague or non-idiomatic medical expressions with accurate terms such as self-diagnosis, self-medication, and negative development.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses both simple and complex sentences, but recurring problems with reference, article use, and clause construction limit control.
Check pronoun reference and sentence structure carefully, especially in examples where plural people shift to singular ‘a person’ or ‘their body.’
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Nowadays, an increasing number of people with health problems are using alternative medicines and treatments instead of visiting their normal doctor. Do you think this is a positive or negative development?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.