Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-08-13
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)
there is no doubt that smoking kills as well as it is very important to concern about the worst health risks to individuals but specifically stop the distribution or production of tobacco is not practically possible nowadays i partially agree on this which i will discuss my opinion upcoming paragraphs.
To commence with the worse part of smoking that people know that it is very harmful for their health they may die after some time of consuming tobacco regularly but they are not mentally prepare to quit it completely. For example there is a proper survey from WHO that shows over 6-7 million smokers dies because of smoking each year worldwide chainsmokers made temporary decision to stop but not succeed because of high addiction of tobacco, nicotine. Diseases like lung cancer, lungs failure and many more individuals suffered.
On the other side the most of the economy is depend on these type of products which are sale worldwide with the caution but all the smokers community ignore that caution practically its not possible because tobacco generate higher amount of revenue for government and distribution brands from bottom to top there is so much circumstances involved to operate this tobacco making system workers get employment in this field.
In the end i personally prefer to focus how they fall down their sales through quitting smoking through starting campaigns, awareness about health risks as well as best ways to quit if people do not going to smoke how they sell cigarettes or any other bad products
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses the prompt by discussing the health risks of smoking and the economic implications of a potential ban. However, the position is not consistently clear throughout the essay. While you state you 'partially agree', the development of ideas is somewhat superficial. For instance, the argument regarding the economy is relevant but lacks specific detail or logical depth to fully support your stance. The conclusion is a bit repetitive and does not effectively synthesise the arguments presented. To improve, ensure each paragraph has a clear topic sentence and that your arguments are fully extended with logical reasoning rather than just stating facts.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organised into paragraphs, but the flow between ideas is often mechanical or disjointed. You use some cohesive devices, such as 'To commence with' and 'On the other side', but the internal structure of the paragraphs is weak. Referencing is sometimes unclear, and the transition between the health argument and the economic argument feels abrupt. The lack of sophisticated linking words makes the progression of ideas feel somewhat repetitive. Improving the use of cohesive devices and ensuring that each sentence logically follows the previous one will help improve the overall coherence of your writing.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the range and precision required for a higher band. You rely on basic terms like 'worse part', 'bad products', and 'fall down their sales'. There are also some issues with word choice and collocation, such as 'not mentally prepare' (should be 'prepared') and 'smokers community' (should be 'smoking community'). To reach a higher band, you should aim to use more precise academic vocabulary and collocations, such as 'public health crisis' or 'economic repercussions', rather than relying on simple, repetitive phrasing.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Examples include 'specifically stop the distribution... is not practically possible' (should be 'stopping... is not'), 'smokers dies' (subject-verb agreement error), and 'if people do not going to smoke' (incorrect verb tense). Punctuation is also inconsistent, with several run-on sentences and missing commas. While the meaning is generally understandable, the high frequency of errors in basic grammar and sentence construction prevents the essay from reaching a higher band score.
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.