4/9/26 Mini Mock: Paper 2 Questions 1 & 2 (November 2025 21)

Website of homeopathy association

Homeopathy is a method of treating illness and disease. It works on a ‘like cures like’ basis, using the principle that symptoms can be removed using tiny doses of a substance that causes similar symptoms. These substances are heavily diluted in water and shaken – a process known as ‘succussion’. To give a very simple example, onion can make people’s eyes water, so, in suitable microscopic doses, it is sometimes used to treat allergies.

However, homeopathy can do much more than merely remove symptoms. It looks at each patient in a holistic way, by going beyond the symptoms to treat the underlying causes, and, in general, by stimulating the body’s natural healing powers to restore full health and well-being.

Homeopathic medicine has a proven track record of successfully treating short-term and chronic conditions in both adults and children.

Blog by medical doctor

I began my medical career, 35 years ago, working (for five years) in a homeopathic hospital, and initially had no doubts at all about how useful homeopathy can be. The results seemed impressive, with many patients making great improvements after several treatments.

However, over time and with reflection on the alleged science behind homeopathy, I started to have doubts. First of all, neither the ‘like cures like’ principle nor succussion is consistent with current scientific knowledge. Secondly, I realised we cannot simply assume that, because the treatments were followed by healing, the first caused the second – a tempting but unsafe inference. There are other possibilities. The most plausible of these is that if a patient has great trust in homeopathy, the mere fact of having received treatment may itself have caused the improvement. The medicine may have had no effect in bringing this about. In other words, such cures may be a reaction to a placebo.

Government website from country A

Scientific reviews of the effectiveness of homeopathy have generally concluded that there is no evidence that it is as effective as conventional medicine in treating health conditions. Nor is there any evidence supporting the ideas that (a) substances that cause particular symptoms may be used to treat conditions with similar symptoms, or (b) diluting and shaking these substances can turn them into medicines. Indeed, these basic principles of homeopathic medicine are not consistent with the findings of mainstream science.

Homeopathic treatments are normally safe to use, and there is only a small risk that they will cause serious side-effects or interfere with the action of already prescribed medicines. However, if people wish to consult a homeopathist, they are strongly advised to discuss this beforehand with their regular doctor, especially if they are already taking any prescription medication.

Government website from country B

• How effective is homeopathy?

There’s little evidence that homeopathy is an effective treatment for any specific health condition.

• Are homeopathic products safe?

Products labelled as homeopathic may contain substantial amounts of substances which could cause side-effects or interfere with other medicines.

Article on health information website

When carrying out an evidence-based research trial, people are expected to do two things: (1) to register in a public research record any trials that they propose to carry out before these trials start; (2) publish the results when the trial has been completed. These are not legal requirements, but are seen as markers of openness and good practice. A recent study has examined the working of research trials over the last 20 years that have investigated the effectiveness of homeopathy. This study found the following facts.

• 38% of registered homeopathy trials have never had their results published.
• More trials were registered after publication than before the research began.