Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-10-05

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)

As you know the habit of smoking is increasing among people with each passing day. so, a good few people concern that it should not be legal because it creates lots of serious issues in not only in human body but also damage the environment badly. however, i partly agree with this given statement, which i will discuss in further paragraphs.

on the one hand, nowadays many of the Individuals are prey of many serious problems which are mainly happen just because of their smoking habits such as lungs issues and sometimes cancer because when they smoke the harmful substance enter in their body which is not good for their health even in some cases , families have to face same problems. Apart from that due to smoking, animals and animals creatures have to face some problems because they cannot survive in bad environment. Therefore, smoking Should be considered illegal.

On the other hand, these days people are very busy in their work and like which creates stress between them and sometimes it's hard for them to do any jobs due to the work load that is why they smoke because by smoking they can take a relief and break from their work which can be good for their mind because in this way, they can maintain balance between their job and family.

To conclude, although people can relax their mind by smoking but it also can create some serious issues among them that is why it should be banned.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by expressing a partial agreement regarding whether smoking should be made illegal. However, the development of ideas remains limited and under-developed. For example, while the writer mentions health issues such as lung problems and cancer, this point is stated broadly without sufficient elaboration. Similarly, the notion that animals face problems because of a bad environment lacks specific support or examples. The viewpoint is partially stated in the introduction and conclusion, but the arguments shift slightly in the final paragraph, where the conclusion seems to contradict the partial stance by stating 'it should be banned' outright. To reach a higher level, the writer needs to present fully extended and well-supported ideas that maintain a clear, consistent position throughout the essay, ensuring that every main point is thoroughly explained with relevant examples from their own knowledge or experience.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a discernible structure, utilizing standard paragraphing to separate the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. The writing demonstrates some logical organization by attempting to separate the two opposing views into distinct body paragraphs. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical and referencing is not always clear. For instance, transitional phrases like 'on the one hand' and 'on the other hand' are used, but internal cohesive devices are basic and repetitive, and the lowercase formatting at the beginning of sentences disrupts the flow. To improve, the writer should employ a wider and more flexible range of cohesive devices to link ideas smoothly across sentences, ensure precise referencing, and apply standard punctuation and capitalization rules consistently to enhance the logical progression throughout the text.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for the task, providing a limited range sufficient to convey basic ideas about smoking and health. There are noticeable errors in word choice, collocation, and word form that occasionally cause difficulty for the reader, such as writing 'prey of many serious problems' instead of 'prey to' or 'victims of', and using 'animals creatures' which is redundant. Other lexical inaccuracies include 'take a relief' instead of 'get relief' or 'find relief'. To achieve a higher score, the writer must expand their lexical repertoire by incorporating less common vocabulary and idiomatic phrases with greater precision, while paying closer attention to collocations and accurate word forms to ensure clear and natural expression.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The text displays a very limited range of sentence structures, relying heavily on simple clauses joined by coordinating conjunctions or basic relative pronouns. While there are some attempts at complex sentences, such as 'which i will discuss in further paragraphs' and 'because when they smoke the harmful substance enter in their body', these attempts are frequently marred by structural and grammatical errors. Frequent errors include issues with subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'substance enter'), incorrect prepositions within grammatical patterns, missing articles, and a complete lack of proper capitalization at the beginning of sentences and for the pronoun 'I'. To move up, the writer needs to demonstrate a greater variety of complex structures with improved accuracy, ensuring that basic grammatical rules and punctuation are applied consistently so that errors do not impede communication.

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