Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-08-07

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Smoking can cause serious illnesses and should be made illegal.

To what extent do you agree?

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

Student answer (Band 5.5)

In today's world, grasping good health is a must for all age groups. Whether it be adulteration in food, traffic pollution, or illness caused by smoking, we will discuss it. Smoking is really a bad habit from my point of view, and it should surely be banned.

On a prior note, smoking any of the harmful products is a problem associated with the lungs in future. People are already damaging this with the pollution emitted by vehicles and industrial waste by industries and many more airborne diseases. For instance, my neighbor who used to drive a motorcycle on daily basis for his work has to travel 50km, was admitted to the hospital; his family mentioned he was having issues with breathing due to pollution, but apparently, when he got admitted, the reason was found to be due to mere smoking; this situation arose.

Moreover, smoking has not only affected health but also has put people into financial debt. The price of tobacco is booming each year, and even the tax imposed on it is increasing, yet those who prefer to smoke are smoking. To justify it, a cigarette costs 25 rupees; if a normal smoker smokes 10/day, it will be an amount of Rs250/day, and if we count it for the whole month, it will be Rs 7500/month. An average monthly salary in India is Rs 15000-Rs 17000. How can a person benefit himself by spending half of his earnings on smoking? The answer to it is a big no; either he needs to quit smoking, or he needs to borrow money in times of any emergencies if he continues this bad habit.

To conclude, smoking is not only a bad habit but also a path to demolish our success; a person grows up to be a support for his family, and to accomplish it, even the government should impose more and more taxes or stricter rules so that our society stops the habit of smoking.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position that smoking should be banned. The ideas are relevant, particularly the financial argument, which is well-supported with specific calculations. However, the development of the health argument is somewhat disjointed; the transition from general pollution to the specific anecdote about the neighbor is confusing and lacks a clear link to why smoking specifically should be illegal compared to other health hazards. While the position is consistent, the argument could be more effectively structured to focus on the societal benefits of a ban rather than just the personal health risks.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a central theme. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Moreover' and 'To conclude', which help guide the reader. However, some transitions are awkward or mechanical, such as 'On a prior note', which is not a standard idiomatic expression. Additionally, the referencing within the second paragraph is slightly unclear, making the progression of ideas feel a bit forced. The paragraphing is appropriate, but the flow between sentences could be smoother to achieve a higher band score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express their ideas clearly. There are some attempts at less common vocabulary, such as 'adulteration' and 'demolish', though the latter is used slightly inaccurately in this context. Some phrasing is repetitive or unnatural, such as 'grasping good health' and 'smoking any of the harmful products'. While the financial section uses clear, descriptive language, the overall range is limited, and there are occasional errors in word choice that slightly impact the precision of the argument.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'on daily basis' (missing article), 'was admitted to the hospital; his family mentioned he was having issues' (run-on/punctuation issues), and 'benefit himself' (inappropriate collocation). While these errors do not impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. The control over complex structures is inconsistent, and there are minor issues with subject-verb agreement and preposition usage throughout the text.

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.