Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-11-05

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 6.0)

Detrimental health problems can result from smoking, and it should be banned. This essay will discuss why smoking should be illegal, as it causes severe health issues. For example, heart problems, lung issues, and people around a smoker can also have similar problems even if they are not smokers.

Smoking causes severe heart problems among people. Many individuals who are smokers tend to be chain smokers who do not have any control over their intake. Later, the habit results in health issues like heart attacks, cardiac arrest, and many more. In spite of health issues like heart attacks, many people don't stop smoking. For example, an active chain smoker who has had a heart attack several times still doesn't care to quit smoking.

People around smokers also get affected by the health problems that are caused by smoking. When the people around a smoker come into contact with the smoke that the smoker is exhaling, they tend to have the same repercussions. For example, a lady working in a tobacco company got heart problems.

In conclusion, smoking is genuinely harmful for all people, both the people who smoke and those who stay around them. Along with that, smoking has zero benefits in people's lives, and generally, smokers find it really difficult to quit. So, according to me, smoking should be illegal. And there should be processes to help people overcome the addiction to smoking.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You give a clear position in favour of making smoking illegal, and the essay stays focused on health effects. The discussion of smokers’ heart problems and the impact of second-hand smoke provides relevant reasons, with examples such as a smoker continuing after heart attacks. However, the task asks how far you agree, and the argument is not fully developed: the claim that smoking has “zero benefits” is asserted rather than explained, and there is little consideration of why prohibition would be an effective response or of possible counterarguments. The example about a woman working in a tobacco company does not clearly show that exposure to smoke caused her condition. The response is also 16 words below the required minimum. Develop the reasoning and support examples more clearly.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, two body paragraphs presenting separate health effects, and a conclusion that restates your position. This makes the overall line of argument easy to follow. You also use linking expressions such as “For example,” “In spite of,” and “In conclusion.” However, some connections feel mechanical or repetitive, particularly the repeated use of “For example” and “health problems.” The introduction previews the same points that appear in the body, while the conclusion adds the idea of helping people overcome addiction without developing it earlier. Improve progression by making each paragraph build one distinct point, and use clearer references when explaining how second-hand smoke leads to health consequences.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “chain smokers,” “heart attacks,” “cardiac arrest,” “exhaling,” and “addiction.” Some attempts at more formal phrasing, such as “detrimental health problems” and “repercussions,” show an effort to vary your language. However, several expressions are imprecise or repetitive: “heart problems” and “health issues” recur, while “similar problems” and “same repercussions” do not specify the effects clearly. “A lady working in a tobacco company” is also an unclear example of exposure to second-hand smoke. Aim for more precise collocations and avoid using formal-sounding words where their meaning is uncertain. For instance, distinguish second-hand smoke exposure from working in the tobacco industry.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple sentences and more complex forms, including the relative clause in “an active chain smoker who has had a heart attack several times” and the conditional structure “even if they are not smokers.” Most sentences communicate their meaning clearly, and punctuation generally supports the organisation. Some grammatical choices are less controlled. In “Later, the habit results in health issues,” the time reference is unclear beside the present-tense general claim; keep the tense consistent or specify when the consequences occur. The sentence beginning “When the people around a smoker come into contact…” is long and could be divided to make its cause-and-effect relationship clearer. The fragment-like opening “Along with that” in the conclusion also makes the connection between ideas less smooth. Continue practising varied sentence structures while checking tense and sentence boundaries.

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