Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-09-28
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)
It is often argued that smoking is injurious to health and it should be banned by the government. Since some people are quite used to it, I believe that it causes various health issues. I totally agree with this statement, and I will discuss the significant causes by smoking in further paragraphs.
To begin with, myraid reasons support the fact that smoke can cause serious health issues. The conspicuous one is that, it can significantly put negative effect on human body. As individuals use vaping regularly, it directly harm their lungs which are a crucial part of the body, and help human being to inhale and exhale the air throughout the body for surviving. To illustrate, one of the famous celebrity named Shushant Singh was died in the age of 25 because his lungs were totally damaged by inhaling smoke regularly. Therefore, smoking can not only cause health issues but also brings a person comes closer to death.
Moving further, Government should make strict rules against smoking. However, a number of people use smoking to maintain their high living standards, they have no idea how they are ruining their health. For those people, there should be some strict rules, which should be followed by them to stop smoking and keep themselves healthy. Smoking should be made illegal, so that rules are equally followed by everyone. For instance, the individuals who disobey the rules, there should be strict punishment for them or there should be high charges of fine. Therefore, everyone should avoid smoking and follow the rules.
To summerize, although vaping can cause various health problems which are related to lungs and heart, and it can brings a person to death. By following strict rules and regulations, this problem can be dimished so that people can live healthy life and avoid these harmful inhalings.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0
The student addresses all parts of the prompt, taking a clear stance that smoking is injurious and should be made illegal. The position is maintained throughout the essay. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and relies on sweeping assertions. For example, mentioning a celebrity to illustrate lung damage introduces an unsupported anecdote rather than fully developed reasoning. Furthermore, there is some confusion between cigarette smoking and vaping, which are used interchangeably despite distinct definitions. While the main arguments regarding health risks and government regulation are present, the support remains underdeveloped, placing this response solidly in Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0
The essay is organized into four distinct paragraphs with a recognizable introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. There is a clear logical progression overall, moving from health consequences to legislative solutions. However, the use of cohesive devices is sometimes mechanical or faulty, such as 'Moving further' and 'To summerize' (which also contains a spelling error). Paragraphing is attempted, but transitions between sentences can feel abrupt. Referencing is occasionally unclear, as seen in phrases like 'For those people, there should be some strict rules, which should be followed by them'. These formatting and cohesion issues warrant a Band 6.0.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student attempts a range of vocabulary with mixed success. There are some appropriate phrases such as 'injurious to health', 'living standards', and 'strict rules and regulations'. However, there are notable word choice errors and awkward collocations throughout the text, including 'causes by smoking' instead of 'caused by', 'myraid reasons' (spelled incorrectly), 'famous celebrity named Shushant Singh was died', and 'high charges of fine'. Spelling mistakes like 'summerize' and 'dimished' further detract from the lexical score. Because the vocabulary is adequate for the task but contains frequent inaccuracies, a Band 5.5 is appropriate.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting relative clauses and conditional-style structures (e.g., 'Smoking should be made illegal, so that rules are equally followed by everyone'). However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors that occasionally impede smooth reading. Examples include 'causes by smoking in further paragraphs' (passive voice error), 'smoke can cause' where 'smoking' is meant, 'directly harm their lungs' (subject-verb agreement), and 'it can brings a person comes closer'. Punctuation is also erratic in places, particularly with comma splices. Given the frequency of structural errors, the response fits Band 5.0.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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