Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

Nowadays, there has been an ongoing debate on some dangerous matters, such as whether smoking should be made illegal, as it can cause life-threatening illnesses. I totally agree with the making illegal of smoking in the country. I will elaborate on my views and give my opinion.

There are several reasons why smoking should be banned. The most effective reason is that smoking can slowly damage the inner organs of the body, and it spreads throughout the body over time. As a consequence, people may suffer with life threating illness at a later stage, or they might lose their lives too. People who smoke in public places not only make themselves suffer from bad consequences but also drag people around them to suffer because of passive smoking. This would be unjustified for the innocent people who never smoke. Other than that, smokers can affect the environment in a bad way by exhaling smoke into the atmosphere. As a result, the whole country goes through serious problems like climate change and pollution.

On the other hand, making smoking illegal is not sufficient to help people quit their habit of smoking. There should be some other kinds of actions also required. Such as, the government should put a hefty amount of tax on tobacco products. which put the financial burden on smokers' pockets.

To conclude, I assert that there is no doubt that making smoking illegal is the most effective way to decline the smoking. However, it's not enough. The government should take some sort of harsh action in order to get effective results.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the task and maintains a clear position throughout. You have provided relevant reasons for your argument, such as health risks and the impact of passive smoking. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, the claim that smoking causes climate change is a significant over-generalization that lacks logical support. To reach a higher band, ensure that your supporting arguments are more grounded in reality and fully explored. The conclusion is clear, but the transition between the idea of banning smoking and the need for additional measures like taxation could be more smoothly integrated to show a more sophisticated development of your argument.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, and there is a clear progression of ideas from the introduction to the conclusion. You use some cohesive devices, such as 'As a consequence' and 'On the other hand', which help guide the reader. However, some transitions are a bit mechanical, and the use of cohesive devices could be more varied. Additionally, the sentence structure within paragraphs is sometimes repetitive. Improving the flow between sentences by using a wider range of linking words and referencing would enhance the overall coherence of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You have an adequate range of vocabulary to convey your ideas, including terms like 'life-threatening', 'passive smoking', and 'financial burden'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'decline the smoking' (should be 'reduce smoking') and 'making illegal of smoking' (awkward phrasing). To improve, try to use more precise collocations and avoid repeating basic words. While your vocabulary is sufficient for the task, incorporating more sophisticated or academic terminology would help you achieve a higher score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are several grammatical errors, such as 'suffer with life threating illness' (should be 'suffer from life-threatening illnesses') and 'Such as, the government...' (a sentence fragment). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with the use of full stops where commas or semicolons would be more appropriate. To improve, focus on ensuring that your complex sentences are grammatically sound and pay closer attention to subject-verb agreement and article usage.

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