Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-16

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people say that the best way to discourage smoking is to make smoking illegal in public places. Other people say that this is not enough and that other measures are needed.

Discuss both these views, and give your opinion.

Give reasons for your answer, and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

This topic is often argued about the best way to discourage people for smoking. While some people believe that prohibiting smoking in public places is best solution, However other people believe that this is not enough other solutions are needed.

In my opinion, making smoking illegal in public place can reduce passive smoking risk for people who does not smoke in their life. For example children, elderly people and pregnant women. Smoking is very harmful for health. Those who does smoking in public place, they not only effect their own health but also effect other people health. Smoking can cause cancer, asthma and various breathing problem. In my neighborhood one uncle has a addition of smoking he smoke 1 packet per day. Sometime he smoke in His house. One day he find out his son is facing serious breathing problem because of him because passive smoking. People should on longer allowed to smoke in restaurants, workplaces, parks, or on public transport.

On the other hand, government can also take strong step for this serious problem. Nicotine addiction is difficult to overcome. Cigarette is made from Tobacco, Government can increase tax on tobacco. It will increase the price of cigarette so that many people can buy that. Government can also provide fee program for educating people about side effect of smoking and tobacco and spread awareness about health. public health campaigns can explain the long-term consequences of smoking.

In conclusion, banning smoking in public places is an effective but I believe that it should be combined with education.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both views on public smoking bans and providing a clear personal opinion. The position is maintained throughout the essay. However, the ideas are sometimes repetitive and lack deeper development. For instance, the discussion on health risks lists several diseases like 'cancer, asthma and various breathing problem' without fully linking them back to the core debate on deterrence measures. The personal anecdote about 'one uncle' is somewhat informal for an IELTS task, though it attempts to support the argument. The conclusion summarises the stance adequately. Overall, the response meets the criteria for Band 6.0 because it addresses all parts of the task, presents relevant ideas, but leaves some arguments under-developed and relies on generalisations.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear paragraph structure separating the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. However, cohesive devices are sometimes faulty or mechanical. The transition 'While some people believe... However other people believe...' contains a punctuation error and an awkward conjunction pairing. Referencing is occasionally unclear, as seen in sentences like 'One day he find out his son is facing serious breathing problem because of him because passive smoking.' Paragraphing is used correctly to separate the two views and the writer's opinion, but the logical progression within paragraphs can feel disjointed due to abrupt shifts between sentences. This places the response firmly in the Band 5.5 to 6.0 range, achieving Band 6.0 for functional paragraphing and overall logical flow despite mechanical cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common terms such as 'prohibiting', 'consequences', and 'addiction'. However, there are noticeable word-choice and collocation errors throughout the response, such as 'discourage people for smoking' instead of 'from smoking', 'fee program' instead of 'free program', and 'addition of smoking' instead of 'addiction to smoking'. Spelling errors like 'effect' instead of 'affect' also appear. While these lexical inaccuracies do not heavily impede communication, they reflect the limitations of Band 5.0 to 6.0. The vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey the intended meaning, justifying a Band 5.5 score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and some complex sentence forms, such as conditional or concessive clauses ('While some people believe that...'). However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors in verb tenses, subject-verb agreement, and prepositions. Examples include 'people who does not smoke', 'Those who does smoking', 'he find out', and 'People should on longer allowed'. Punctuation errors are also present, particularly run-on sentences and incorrect comma splices in compound structures. These errors require some effort from the reader to parse, though meaning is generally preserved. This performance aligns with the Band 5.0 descriptors, where a limited range of structures and frequent errors persist.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.