Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-22

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 4.0)

In my opinion, Thats truth smoking is not Good for human health. There are a lot of Disadvantages for peoples. Most of People's are do smoking. This is the best way to discourage smoking. firstly young people's see the others people who always smoking around that area, than youngest generation start the smoking now days. Smoking effected on the lung's.

Doctor's says, smoking is also causing of the Cancer. On the other hand, people's think this is reduced to help stress.

When i see people's are smoking in the public where students follow them.

smoking is the Intoxication.

It is the Poison , however often people smoking anywhere else.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0

The student attempts to address the topic of discouraging smoking in public places, noting points such as health risks and public influence. However, the response is severely underdeveloped and fails to meet the minimum length requirement of 250 words, reaching only 109 words. Furthermore, the two distinct views (making smoking illegal versus needing other measures) are not fully discussed, and a clear, sustained personal opinion is absent. Ideas remain isolated assertions rather than extended arguments. Based on these limitations, the response corresponds to Band 4.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0

The text lacks proper paragraphing, presented instead as a series of disconnected, single-sentence blocks. Cohesive devices are minimal and misused, such as 'than youngest generation' and 'however often people smoking anywhere else'. There is no clear logical progression or overall structural coherence guiding the reader through the arguments. Although basic referencing is attempted with words like 'this', the overall organization falls short of higher bands. This performance reflects Band 4.0 descriptors.

Lexical Resource — Band 4.0

The vocabulary used is very basic and repetitive, relying on elementary terms like 'good', 'health', and 'people'. There are significant word choice and collocation errors, such as 'Thats truth smoking is not Good', 'Most of People's are do smoking', and 'Smoking effected on the lung's'. Less common lexical items are largely absent or misused, and spelling/morphology issues occur frequently. This corresponds closely to Band 4.0 criteria.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0

The grammatical range is extremely limited, consisting almost entirely of simple sentences with frequent structural errors. Examples include 'Doctor's says, smoking is also causing of the Cancer' and 'people's think this is reduced to help stress.' Punctuation and capitalization are erratic, and grammatical inaccuracies are pervasive throughout the text, frequently straining comprehension. This meets the criteria for Band 4.0.

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

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