Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-10-16

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)

Smoking is the leading cause of death in the contemptory era. while detractor belives that the policies of making smoking illegal in public place is enough, proponents ask for more steps to taken to discourage smoking. This essay will discuss why more viable, pragmatic steps are needed to discourage smoking in addition to making it illegal in public places.

Smoking has been banned in many public places along with providing separate smoking zones only to be proven ineffective. Multiple case studies strengthened this claim by stating that smoking in non-smoking area is considered "cool" among smokers due to their increasing number. That is why rather then making it shamefull those signs just exacerbate the existing crisis. This end up attracting new smokers.

Not to forget, Signs of no-smoking increased awareness among young generation by a lot like in schools but it is limited in discouraging the act of smoking. In those cases, the more prohibitive smoking becomes, the greater the chances of young generation trying it out of curiosity increases. This backfire also exerts a detrimental influence on them.

In my opinion, spreading awareness rather then surpressing smoking by unhinged slogans like "No-Smoking" will return far more effective results. By cultivating knowledge regarding harmful chemicals and adverse effects on body later in life can be a good starting step. This will make individual feel safe instead of being controlled by general protocals.

In conclusion, Just making smoking illegal is a outdated step and now there must be different measures needed.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You present a clear overall view that further measures are needed, and you give relevant reasons, including the possible appeal of prohibited behaviour to young people and the value of health education. However, the discussion is unbalanced: the case for making smoking illegal in public places is not explained as a distinct viewpoint, and the essay mainly argues against relying on bans. Several claims, such as signs making smoking seem “cool,” need clearer explanation or a concrete example. Develop both sides before stating your opinion, and explain how education or other measures would work in practice.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, supporting paragraphs and a conclusion, and the ideas generally relate to discouraging smoking. However, progression is limited because the body paragraphs largely repeat the point that restrictions may be ineffective or counterproductive, rather than developing separate arguments for both views. Some links are unclear: “That is why” does not make the connection between smoking zones and the claim about signs fully explicit, while “In those cases” has an uncertain reference. The conclusion is very brief and does not bring the main arguments together. Use clearer topic sentences and connect each example directly to the claim it supports.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You attempt a range of topic-related and less common vocabulary, including “detrimental influence,” “prohibitive” and “adverse effects.” However, noticeable spelling and word-choice errors sometimes make the message difficult to follow: “contemptory” appears to mean “contemporary,” “surpressing” should be “suppressing,” and “protocols” does not fit naturally in “general protocals.” Some combinations are also awkward, such as “more viable, pragmatic steps” and “return far more effective results.” Choose familiar, accurate collocations where possible, and check spelling and word forms carefully. More precise vocabulary for policy measures and public-health outcomes would help express your ideas clearly.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including a conditional structure in “the more prohibitive smoking becomes, the greater the chances…,” but control is inconsistent. Errors in sentence boundaries, agreement, articles and verb forms occur frequently: “while” begins a sentence without a capital, “This end up attracting” lacks agreement, and “a outdated step” uses the wrong article. The sentence beginning “By cultivating knowledge…” is also incomplete because it has no clear main clause. These problems sometimes make relationships between ideas hard to understand. Practise building complete sentences with a clear subject and verb, then check agreement, articles and punctuation.

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