Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-09-23

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 6.0)

It is often argued that cigarette smoking can cause life threatening diseases and its sales should be banned. I strongly agree with this notion because smoking is the cause of deadly lung problems and pollution.

To commence with the view of disagreement, smoking provides a chemical compound like nicotine which is very addictive. In other words, tobacco smoking fulfill nicotine demand of the body, and as a result relaxes the mind of smokers. Thus, smoking is being practiced worldwide because of addiction.

Now moving towards the view of agreement, smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer and other lung diseases. To explicate it, tobacco contains many hazardous chemicals which can damage lungs resulting in deadly cancer and eventually death. For instance, recent research by WHO (World Health Organization) reveals that about 1.6 million individuals lose their lives every year due to lung cancer caused by tobacco smoking. Therefore, smoking has very nagative impact on persons physical well-being.

Another significant view is its contribution in causing pollution. Smoking releases small particles that contaminate the environment and deteriorate the quality of air. Moreover, cigarette butts are not biodegradable and cause land pollution. For example, an article published in "The Moscow Times" states that a huge proportion of air pollution is also caused by cigarette smoking besides industrial and motor vehilcle emissions. Hence, smoking pose a serious threat to atmosphere.

In conclusion, although smoking provides mental satisfaction to the smokers, it has devastating effects on physical health and is also detrimental to the environment.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by presenting a clear position on whether smoking should be made illegal. The introduction clearly states the writer's strong agreement. Body paragraphs present relevant ideas, such as the addictive nature of nicotine, the health risks supported by a WHO statistic, and environmental concerns supported by a reference to 'The Moscow Times'. Although the paragraph discussing the opposing view ('To commence with the view of disagreement') slightly blurs the stance initially, the overall progression maintains a clear position. Ideas are extended and supported appropriately, aligning well with the Band 7 descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized into an introduction, clear body paragraphs, and a brief conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different facets of the argument, such as addiction, health consequences, and pollution. Cohesive devices are employed to guide the reader, as seen in phrases like 'To commence with', 'Now moving towards', and 'In conclusion'. However, some transitions are slightly mechanical or awkward, such as 'To commence with the view of disagreement', which indicates a Band 6.5 to 7 performance. Referencing and progression are generally clear throughout the text.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The writer demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary to allow for some flexibility and precision, incorporating terms such as 'life threatening diseases', 'biodegradable', and 'deteriorate'. Less common items are attempted with decent awareness of style and collocation, although minor inaccuracies exist, such as 'nagative' (negative) and 'vehilcle' (vehicle). Other phrasing could be more natural, such as 'fulfill nicotine demand'. Nevertheless, the vocabulary is adequate to convey the intended meaning without impeding communication, fitting the Band 6.5 descriptor comfortably.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The text displays a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including relative clauses and conditional-like or participial constructions such as 'resulting in deadly cancer and eventually death'. There are some grammatical errors and typographical slips present, including 'smoking pose' instead of 'smoking poses' and spelling errors like 'nagative'. Despite these occurrences, the errors rarely impede communication, and the overall control of grammar and punctuation supports a solid Band 6.5 rating.

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.