Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-08-21

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, many people are smoking continuously without knowing the fact that It can severely damage lungs and can cause very serious diseases so, it should be made illegal. I, therefore totally agree with this viewpoint.

On the one hand, smoking is a very bad habit and can have several adverse effects on individuals and society which begin to affect health of various people. For instance, in a recent survey conducted by NHS in the United Kingdom, they noticed that the increased of 80%, males were diagnosed with cardiovascular diseases and all the cases had a past history of habitual smoking. Therefore, it badly affected the lives of numerous people.

Moreover, governments and other organizations should scrutinize this situation and take legal action against those sellers who are demanding increased sales of cigarettes and other smoking items. This approach helps mitigate the rise of various diseases, promotes accountability and quality of healthy life style. Furthermore, the government should provide clear ethical guidelines in schools, so that children should know the difference between good and bad items which may cause harm in future. This may help them to differentiate between right and wrong.

In conclusion, constant smoking is a menace for both the individuals and society, also it a profound threat to the people. But with careful steps and measures, may reduce the detrimental effects on individuals and society. Governments should impose complete ban to improve life styles and health simultaneously providing education to the school going children. As a result, they will become well-rounded individuals and may learn to differentiate between right and wrong.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position in favor of banning smoking. The ideas are relevant, such as the mention of health risks and the role of government intervention. However, the development is somewhat uneven. The argument regarding 'sellers' is slightly underdeveloped, as it focuses on the sellers rather than the act of smoking itself. While the position is consistent throughout, some points, such as the suggestion for ethical guidelines in schools, could have been more directly linked to the core argument of why smoking should be illegal. Overall, the response covers all parts of the task well.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is organized into clear paragraphs, each with a central focus. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'On the one hand', 'Moreover', and 'In conclusion', which help guide the reader through the argument. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical or repetitive, and there are instances where the flow between sentences is a bit disjointed, such as the transition between the government's role in legal action and the suggestion for school education. Referencing is generally clear, but the logical progression could be smoother to achieve a higher band.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task. You use some good collocations like 'adverse effects', 'cardiovascular diseases', and 'detrimental effects'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and phrasing, such as 'increased of 80%' (should be 'an 80% increase') and 'demanding increased sales' (which is slightly unnatural). The range is sufficient to convey your meaning clearly, but there is a lack of more sophisticated or precise vocabulary that would elevate the response to a higher band level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is always clear, there are frequent grammatical errors, such as 'the increased of 80%', 'it a profound threat' (missing verb), and 'impose complete ban' (missing article). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with comma usage in complex sentences. While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and article usage will significantly improve your accuracy.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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