Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-08-12

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 6.0)

Some people argue that smoking is injurious to health therefore should be banned in the society. I agree with this statement up-to great extent as smoking cause serious health disease and making it illegal would eliminate these health issues from the society. However, It will also have some economic affect.

To begin with, it has been known from years that smoking cause serious illnesses such as lungs disease and cancer. When smoking will be made illegal, it will reduce such health problems from the society and it will gradually improve the health status of civilians. Additionally, when people would not be able to smoke in their free time, they can spend that time in other activities such as exercise, volunteer work, learning new skills such as painting or pottery. For example, In a BBC daily podcast, a teenage girl has once stated that she had quit smoking and started to learn pottery art in her spare time to relax. She than liked this hobby much that she replaced pottery with her full-time job. Now she is selling her pots in the market and generating income. Therefore, replacing smoking with other activities can aid people in their life.

On the other side, if smoking will be made illegal it will have some financial implications. Cigarettes are produced and sold in the market by various companies and these businesses will have to shut-down if smoking will be made illegal. Consequently, many people will loose their jobs.

In conclusion, although smoking cause serious illnesses and should be made illegal. It will also cause unemployment. Therefore, government can instead pose high taxes on this commodity so that not everyone can buy it. Also, it should impose restrictions on smoking in the public places such as fines.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, presenting a clear position that smoking should be banned while acknowledging the economic counter-argument. The ideas are relevant and generally well-developed, particularly the suggestion of replacing smoking with hobbies. However, the development of the economic argument is somewhat brief. The conclusion introduces a new suggestion (taxation and public restrictions) that was not previously discussed, which slightly weakens the coherence of the argument. Overall, the response maintains a consistent stance throughout, meeting the requirements for a Band 6.5 or 7.0, but it falls into the Band 6 category due to the slight lack of depth in the counter-argument and the introduction of new ideas in the conclusion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized into paragraphs, each with a clear focus. Cohesive devices such as 'To begin with', 'Additionally', and 'On the other side' are used to guide the reader. However, some transitions are slightly mechanical, and the referencing is occasionally imprecise, such as the use of 'She than liked' (should be 'then'). The progression of ideas is generally clear, but the final paragraph introduces new solutions that were not part of the main body, which disrupts the logical flow of the argument. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the introduction, body, and conclusion.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The range of vocabulary is adequate for the task. The student uses some topic-specific terms like 'financial implications', 'commodity', and 'health status'. There are some word choice errors, such as 'injurious to health' (which is correct, but the phrasing 'in the society' is slightly unnatural) and 'loose their jobs' (should be 'lose'). The use of 'pottery art' and 'generating income' shows an attempt to use a wider range of vocabulary, but the overall lexical control is limited to a fairly standard level. The errors do not impede communication, but they prevent the essay from reaching a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as conditional sentences ('if smoking will be made illegal...'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with verb tenses and subject-verb agreement, such as 'smoking cause' (should be 'causes') and 'when smoking will be made' (should be 'is made'). The misuse of 'will' in conditional clauses is a recurring issue. While the meaning is generally clear, these errors are frequent enough to prevent the essay from reaching a higher band. Punctuation is generally acceptable, though there are some minor issues with comma usage.

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.