Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-10-01

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 6.0)

Different people have different opinions on how to discourage people from smoking in which few believe in making it illegal to smoke in crowded places; however other measures can be taken into consideration to plunge its usage among folks. Both views will be discussed with examples in the following paragraphs.

No doubt, instilling fear in the mind of people by making it not legitimate to smoke in public places will prevent individuals from smoking: although there will be no complete reduction in the usage of cigarettes, there will be a steady decline in its usage, which would definitely be positive in maintaining the health of people. Moreover, people tend to imitate others; therefore, if cigarette use decreases, others may be less likely to adopt the same behaviour.

Contrastingly, no single solution is enough to discourage people from smoking, as making people realise to quit smoking from within, rather than imposing any restriction, would be much more feasible than banning its usage among the public, in which making use of renowned celebrities in advertisements could work magically because Gen Z and Alpha today are more likely to follow the lifestyle of their well-established figures. Besides, street plays can be done and making use of those people who have suffered from cancer earlier will definitely make people aware of the repercussions of smoking.

In synopsis, it can be said that banning the use of smoking in public is without any doubt effective in stopping people from smoking. Still, our cumulative actions are also required to eliminate this problem at its origin.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views—making smoking illegal in public places versus taking additional measures—and provides a clear opinion in the introduction and conclusion. However, some ideas are more fully developed than others. While the first body paragraph adequately explains how banning public smoking can reduce consumption and encourage behavioural imitation, the second body paragraph attempts to cover multiple distinct ideas—such as celebrity endorsements and cancer survivor street plays—without fully extending or exploring each one in depth. To reach a higher level, the writer needs to select fewer ideas and support them with more robust explanations and specific examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement and fully meets the lower requirements while showing some elements of the next band. Information and ideas are logically sequenced, beginning with an introduction that outlines the structure, followed by body paragraphs tackling each view, and ending with a clear summary. Cohesive devices such as 'Contrastingly', 'Moreover', and 'In synopsis' are used to guide the reader through the text, though referencing is occasionally mechanical. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct arguments. To achieve a higher band, the transitions between sentences and ideas could be made smoother and less formulaic, ensuring that the progression of thought feels entirely natural and unobtrusive throughout.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less-common lexical items such as 'relegitimate', 'repercussions', and 'cumulative actions'. However, there are notable instances of imprecise word choice and awkward collocations that reflect a limited command of style. For example, phrases like 'plunge its usage among folks' and 'making it not legitimate' sound unnatural, and 'in synopsis' is a less common alternative to 'in summary'. Despite these vocabulary and word-choice errors, communication is not impeded. To move to a higher band, the writer must expand their resource of idiomatic collocations and demonstrate greater precision and naturalness in selecting words appropriate for academic or formal contexts.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writing demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating multi-clause structures such as conditional and concessive clauses (e.g., 'if cigarette use decreases, others may be less likely...'). There are some errors in grammar and punctuation present throughout the text, including prepositional issues and awkward phrasing like 'making people realise to quit smoking from within' and 'banning the use of smoking'. Nonetheless, these errors are relatively infrequent and rarely impede communication. To progress further, the writer should aim for a higher proportion of error-free sentences by refining their control over complex grammatical patterns, subordinate clauses, and standard syntactic structures.

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