Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-10-29

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 can cause serious illnesses for sure i agree with that but made it illegal i can't agree with that, because smoking is in society from decades and people are addicted with the smoking and making that illegal is not gonna stop them from smoking.

Insted of making it illegal we can do education for the people with addiction to give them knowledge about the serious illnesses caused by smoking. We can first start with the schools and all eductaion sectore so the future generation get the awareness about the illnesses caused by the smoking.

Then creating the reheab for the people who wants to quite smoking.

Let's say if smoking be illegal then lots of rebalis things can happen people start protesting against government and cause lot's of damage to the society.

And the econimy of nation also depends on the large amout of taxt and import export duties on smoking. It's for sure going to effect the economy of nation.

Smoking is also a stress relive medication for lots of people which prescribed by the doctors and by making it illegal its going to cause lot's of stress people and that can leave lot's of work places with stressed out employees too.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is clear: you agree that smoking causes serious illness but oppose making it illegal. You give several relevant reasons, including addiction, education and rehabilitation, possible public unrest, tax revenue, and stress. However, the response addresses the issue only partially because these points are mostly asserted rather than explained or supported with a specific example. The claim that doctors prescribe smoking as stress relief, for instance, needs clarification and evidence. The response also contains 204 words, below the required 250, so there is limited space to develop your argument. To strengthen it, explain the likely effects of prohibition and compare them with practical measures such as taxation, health warnings, and cessation support.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has some organisation: it begins with your position and then presents reasons against prohibition. Connectors such as “Instead of” and “Then” help signal the direction of the argument. However, the ideas do not yet form a clear overall progression. Education, rehabilitation, protests, the economy, and workplace stress are introduced one after another without being grouped or linked through explanation. The final point also shifts abruptly from public policy to employees’ stress. Use separate paragraphs for your position, the main reasons, and a conclusion, and make the relationship between each claim explicit. For example, explain how education and rehabilitation address addiction more effectively than a ban, then support that comparison before moving to another reason.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate your main ideas, including “addicted,” “serious illnesses,” “education,” and “economy.” However, the range is limited, and several spelling and word-choice errors make the writing less clear or natural. Examples include “Insted,” “eductaion sectore,” “reheab,” “quite smoking,” and “econimy.” Some phrases are also imprecise, such as “rebalis things” and “stress relive medication.” Aim to learn accurate forms and collocations for this topic, such as “smoking cessation,” “public health,” and “tax revenue.” More precise vocabulary would help you explain your ideas without relying on broad or unclear expressions.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and longer sentences, and the main position is generally understandable. However, complex sentences are often faulty, and errors occur frequently enough to make some parts difficult to follow. For example, “people are addicted with the smoking” has an incorrect grammatical pattern, while “people who wants to quite smoking” has a subject–verb agreement problem and an incorrect infinitive construction. The opening sentence also joins several ideas with commas rather than using clearer sentence boundaries. Practise building accurate sentences with clauses such as “Although smoking causes serious illness, I do not believe it should be banned.” Check agreement, articles, verb forms, and punctuation, and prioritise accuracy before adding more complex structures.

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