Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-10-10

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)

Nowadays, Smoking is the trend among the young generation. The use of smoking can cause serious illnesses and negatively affect people's lives. I completely agree with this point; smoking needs to be banned because it causes health concerns and also affects non-smokers.

The main reason for smoking is health concerns like cancer and heart problems. To explain it more, cigarettes contain harmful chemicals, and they damage the human body over time. As a result, regular use of these smoking items causes serious illness and health problems. For example, the use of a vape or cigarette for many years results in breathing problems and being unable to work for a long time. Therefore, smoking should be banned to reduce smoking-related illnesses and health hazards.

Another major concern is that it affect the non smokers. Smokers put the health of others at risk because if they smoke near children or a senior person, its affect the breathing system. In addition, these people take in smoke in an indirect way, which may lead to breathing problems. However, people waste a lot of money on smoking rather than buying essential things. Moreover, the government also need to spend money on smoking-related problems.

In conclusion, I completely agree that smoking should be banned because it causes serious problems. In my opinion, banning smoking is an important step to protect innocent people and reduce health hazards.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear from the introduction and conclusion: you completely agree that smoking should be banned. You give relevant reasons, including illness, risks to non-smokers, personal spending and government costs. The health-effects paragraph includes an explanation and an example, so the response addresses the main question. However, some points are less fully developed: the claim about money and government spending is introduced briefly without an example or explanation, and the example about vaping is not clearly connected to making smoking illegal. The response is also 20 words below the required minimum, which limits the space available to develop your reasons. Explain why prohibition is preferable to other measures, such as restrictions or education, to strengthen your argument further.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, two body paragraphs presenting separate concerns, and a conclusion that restates your position. Linking expressions such as “As a result,” “In addition,” and “Moreover” help show relationships between ideas. However, some connections are mechanical or unclear. In the second body paragraph, “However” does not introduce a clear contrast, and the shift from risks to non-smokers to personal spending and government costs feels abrupt. References such as “these people” could also be more precise. To improve progression, group related points together and explain how each one supports the case for making smoking illegal, rather than relying mainly on linking phrases.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “serious illnesses,” “harmful chemicals,” “health hazards,” and “smoking-related.” These choices make your main ideas understandable. However, the range is somewhat repetitive, particularly with repeated uses of “health problems,” “smoking,” and “affect.” Some expressions are also imprecise or unnatural, such as “the use of smoking,” “smoking items,” and “its affect the breathing system.” Choose more exact collocations and vary your wording—for example, refer to “smoking” or “tobacco use” rather than “the use of smoking,” and describe second-hand smoke as a risk to others’ respiratory health. This would make the argument more precise and fluent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including cause-and-effect structures such as “As a result, regular use … causes serious illness” and a conditional clause beginning “if they smoke near children.” Most sentences communicate the intended meaning, but some grammatical errors remain. For example, “Another major concern is that it affect” needs subject–verb agreement (“it affects”), and “the government also need” should be “the government also needs.” In “if they smoke near children or a senior person, its affect,” the clause structure and pronoun are faulty; a clearer version is “smoking near children or older people can affect their breathing.” Check agreement, pronoun forms, and sentence construction during revision.

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