Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-08-31

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)

Bann the smoking due to its serious health hazards. I fully agree this statement . Smoking should be made illegal as it don't provide any benefit. But its side effects are countless that include cancer, stroke, cardiac attack, hypertension. Along with financial risk.

Firstly smoking can be through various means that include bidi, ciagrette, hooka and vape. Smoking is well known to cause serious health hazards that include cancer of mouth, lungs, intestines. Along with the risk of sudden cardiac attack, hypertension, low blood oxygen levels, high state of inflammation in body, stress, depression. Many scientific research have proved these effects. However there is no single evidence that proves smoking is beneficial.

As my dentist point of view smoking is way more harmful then it looks.

Smoking is not only harmful to the person indulging in it also to the person who is in close proximity to the smoker and also experience serious health hazards. 90% of oral cancer cases are related to smoking.

Example a person who smokes is 50% is more prone to stroke rather then non smoker. Smoking in public place makes the people nearby uncomfortable. Peer pressure is one of the reason many people start smoking. In addition to the adverse effect on health smoking also put a considerable pressure on the wallet of the person.

To conclude I am in strong favour to make smoking illegal with immediate effect due to is adverse effects on health and finances.

In today's world many research also prove smoking is lethal rather being harmful.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

You have clearly stated your position in favor of banning smoking, and you have provided several relevant arguments, such as health risks and financial burdens. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. While you list many health consequences, the essay lacks a deeper exploration of the 'extent' of your agreement. For instance, you could have discussed the practical challenges of such a ban or the role of individual freedom versus government intervention. The response is somewhat list-like in its presentation of health issues, which prevents it from reaching a higher band score for task development.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow your argument. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or repetitive. For example, you frequently start sentences with 'Along with' or 'Smoking is'. There are also issues with sentence-level cohesion, such as the fragmented sentence 'Along with financial risk.' and the awkward transition 'As my dentist point of view'. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring that sentences flow more naturally into one another would significantly improve the coherence of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is generally adequate to convey your meaning, but it lacks the precision and range required for higher bands. You use some specific terms like 'hypertension' and 'inflammation', which is good, but there are several spelling errors (e.g., 'Bann', 'ciagrette', 'hooka') and awkward collocations (e.g., 'cardiac attack' instead of 'heart attack'). Furthermore, the repetition of basic words like 'harmful' and 'smoking' limits the sophistication of your expression. Expanding your vocabulary to include more academic synonyms and collocations would be beneficial.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text that occasionally impede the flow of reading. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('Smoking should be made illegal as it don't provide any benefit'), missing articles ('As my dentist point of view'), and incorrect sentence structures ('Example a person who smokes is 50% is more prone to stroke rather then non smoker'). While you attempt some complex ideas, the lack of control over basic grammar and punctuation, particularly with sentence fragments and run-on sentences, keeps this score in the lower range.

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.