Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-11-14

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)

It is often argued that smoking is injurious for health but some people believe it's not true, they see smoking as a source of relief. But in my perspective, it is harmful for both physical and mental health. In fact, science has proven that smoking is a slow poison and it kills a person from inside out.

One of the main reasons for this is that, people take it as a medication. For instance, in my country, people smoke cigrettes or weed to get temporary relief from their financial or other problems. They forget that, smoking can give them limited peace but after that, they will get addicted to it and in coming days, they will be wasting money on it.

Futhermore, a significiant amount of researches are happened on smoking and every time they reach to the conclusion that, men and women are destructing their body organs, like; lungs, their voice drums, getting asthametic, loosing their self and mental control, getting more addicted to other drugs as well. Initailly, peopel enjoy it but ultimately smoking overweighs them.

Taking everything into account, although smoking doesn't kill a person immediately, but it has some slow effects on human body and with time it leads them to death. In my opinion, our government already have a few departments which are working on this particular thing, they should activate the system and should stop the import of drug matterials in the country, and catch all the sellers and buyers, so we can save humankind.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear: you consider smoking harmful and support government action to stop it. You address health effects, addiction, financial costs and possible restrictions, so the response is relevant to the question. However, the task asks whether smoking should be made illegal, and this central issue is not fully explored. The final paragraph proposes stopping imports and catching sellers and buyers, but does not explain whether all smoking should be prohibited or consider the practical implications of a ban. Some supporting points, such as smoking as a response to financial problems and its effects on mental health, are asserted rather than explained or illustrated. Develop the case for prohibition more directly and support key claims with clearer reasoning or examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, two body paragraphs and a conclusion. Linking expressions such as “For instance,” “Furthermore” and “Taking everything into account” help signal examples and stages in the argument. The progression is generally understandable, but connections between some ideas are not fully clear. For example, the first body paragraph moves from smoking for relief to addiction and wasted money without clearly showing how this supports making smoking illegal. The long list of health effects in the next paragraph also makes the argument feel less organised. Some linking is mechanical, and punctuation around connectors is sometimes awkward. Group related effects together, use clearer topic sentences, and make each paragraph’s link to the question explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “addicted,” “temporary relief,” “financial,” and “body organs,” which makes the general subject clear. There are also attempts at more emphatic phrasing, such as “slow poison” and “save humankind.” However, the range and control of vocabulary are limited, and several spelling and word-choice errors distract the reader: “cigrettes,” “significiant,” “asthametic,” and “loosing” are examples. Some expressions are also unnatural or imprecise, such as “voice drums,” “destructing their body organs,” and “smoking overweighs them.” Choose accurate health-related terms and check spelling carefully; more precise collocations will make your claims clearer and more convincing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including a contrastive opening and clauses introduced by “although” and “that.” This gives the response some structural variety, and the main message is usually understandable. However, errors in sentence construction, agreement, articles and punctuation recur. For example, “some people believe it's not true, they see smoking…” joins two independent clauses incorrectly; “a significiant amount of researches are happened” has problems with number and verb form; and “our government already have” has subject–verb disagreement. The final sentence also combines several actions in a way that is difficult to control. Practise building accurate complex sentences, especially with subordinate clauses, and check agreement and sentence boundaries during revision.

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