Band 7.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-08-20

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 7.5)

while the severe health risks associated with smoking are indisputable, whether a complete prohibition on tabacco is the most effective or appropriate response remains a subject of intense debate. Although banning smoking could drastically reduce preventable diseases, I only partially agree with this proposal because strict legal prohibition is often impractical and infringes on personal liberty.

On the one hand, making smoking illegal could yeild immense public healt benefits. Tobacco use is a leading cause of lung cancer, and cardiovascular disease, and respiratory disorders, imposing a heavy burden on public smoke inadvertently harms non-smokers, particularly children and service industry workers. Banning tobacco would eliminate public exposure to danger toxins, save millions of lives, and reduce the financial strain on medical institutions.

On the other hand, an absolute ban presents significant ethical and practical challenges. Ethically. adults should retain autonomy over their personal health choices, provided they are fully aware of the consequences. Practically, outlawing tobacco would likely drive the market underground rather than eradicate consumption. Much like historical alchohol bans, illegalizing cigarettes could give rise the lucrative black markets, criminal network, and unregulated products that are far more dangerous than commercial tobacco. Furthermore, governments would lose substantial tax revenue currently used to fund public services.

Instead of blanket ban, a combination of heavy taxation, public education campaings, and strict regulations on public smoking offers a more realistic solution. In conclusion, while i agree that the health consequences of smoking justify rigorous control, making it entirely illegal is neither practical nor politically feasible.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 8.0

You have addressed all parts of the prompt, clearly stating your position in the introduction and maintaining it throughout the essay. Your arguments are well-developed, particularly the comparison between tobacco prohibition and historical alcohol bans, which adds depth to your reasoning. You effectively balance the health benefits against the practical and ethical drawbacks of a total ban. The response is well-structured, and your ideas are extended with relevant examples and logical explanations. To reach a higher band, ensure that all minor points, such as the mention of 'service industry workers', are fully integrated into the flow of the argument to avoid any sense of list-like presentation.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.5

The essay is logically organized with a clear progression of ideas. Each paragraph has a central theme, and you use transition signals such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusion' effectively to guide the reader. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct arguments. While the flow is generally smooth, some cohesive devices could be used with more variety to avoid a slightly mechanical feel. Overall, the information is presented in a coherent manner, and the relationship between ideas is easy to follow throughout the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

You demonstrate a good range of vocabulary, including terms like 'indisputable', 'autonomy', 'eradicate', and 'lucrative'. However, there are several spelling errors that detract from the overall quality, such as 'tabacco' (tobacco), 'yeild' (yield), 'healt' (health), 'alchohol' (alcohol), and 'illegalizing' (which is less standard than 'criminalizing'). While these errors do not impede communication, they are noticeable. To improve, focus on proofreading for common spelling mistakes and try to incorporate more sophisticated collocations to elevate the precision of your arguments.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 7.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures effectively, such as the conditional clause 'provided they are fully aware of the consequences'. There are some minor grammatical slips, such as 'give rise the lucrative black markets' (missing 'to') and 'instead of blanket ban' (missing 'a'). Punctuation is generally sound, though there is an unnecessary period after 'Ethically'. The majority of your sentences are error-free, and your control over complex structures is sufficient to convey your meaning clearly. With more attention to minor articles and prepositions, your accuracy would be even stronger.

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