Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-10-02

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)

Smoking is injuries to health. Several people believe that smoking is their personal choice and decision therefore it should not be made illegal. However, i agree on this statement that smoking should be made illegal and this essay will explain why.

The majority of studies believed that smoking cause serious illness for a person. A recent study shows that leading cause of death among the youngster and older people is lung cancer which is caused by the smoking. In contrast, smoking does not only affect the person who consume it but the people surround them. For instance, a person is standing at the bus stop and smoking at public place. There are other people standing at stop. The smoke he release will also affect the others in public place. Therefore, it should be made illegal. The local government should take immediate action to prevent the action and encourage people to overcome consumption. There are several recommendations to support people overcome the smoking.

Furthermore, studies also indicated that majority of people found it challenging to cut down the habit of smoking. It is suggested that through adopting healthy lifestyle, consuming organic and clean food, exercise, and active life would support people to overcome the smoking. Initially, it could be difficult but with time the people will change their habit.

The essay concluded that people health is at high risk becuase of the increasing rate of smoking across the world. To prevent this severe illness the governemnt should take immediate action such as making it illegal to promote healthy lifestyle and environemnt.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task and presents a clear position throughout, stating that smoking should be made illegal. Relevant ideas are introduced, such as the health consequences of smoking and the impact of secondhand smoke on bystanders at a bus stop. However, some ideas remain under-developed or somewhat repetitive. For instance, the discussion on how people can overcome smoking by adopting a healthy lifestyle is touched upon but lacks deeper elaboration and specific examples. To reach a higher level, the writer would need to fully extend and support all arguments with greater depth and well-rounded explanations rather than briefly listing recommendations.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt to group ideas into paragraphs, such as introducing the topic, discussing health effects and passive smoking, suggesting solutions in a separate paragraph, and providing a conclusion. However, cohesion is at times mechanical or faulty. Devices like 'In contrast,' are used inappropriately when the following sentence is not actually a contrast to the previous point. Additionally, referencing is occasionally unclear, and logical progression between some sentences could be smoother. To improve, the writer needs to ensure that cohesive devices accurately reflect the logical relationship between ideas and strengthen overall textual flow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to communicate their main points about smoking and public health. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, such as 'consumption' and 'environment', but these are accompanied by noticeable errors in word choice, form, and spelling. For example, phrases like 'Smoking is injuries to health' misuse word forms, and spelling errors like 'becuase' and 'governemnt' occur. To move to a higher band, the writer must expand their lexical range with greater precision, improve word formation, and ensure accurate spelling throughout the text.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an ability to construct multi-clause sentences such as 'However, i agree on this statement that smoking should be made illegal and this essay will explain why.' There are some errors in grammar and punctuation, including missing articles ('at public place'), incorrect preposition usage ('agree on this statement' instead of 'agree with'), and capitalization lapses like 'i'. However, these errors rarely impede communication. To achieve a higher score, the writer should increase the proportion of error-free complex sentences and refine grammatical control regarding articles and prepositions.

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