Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-08-16

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 smoking has various bad effects on health both internally and externally. I agree it should be illegal and banned by government.

There are number of reasons behind this why to made smoking illegal and banned by government.

I made my agreement strong by starting with first reason smoking can effect both our mental and physical health. People who badly addicted by this killing disease has effected black lung's and heart diseases . They have serious problem in inhalation and exhalation as they spend most of time in coughing. In my area some people have addiction of smoking they not only damage their mental and physical health but also has negative effect on the people around them by secondhand smoke. Because in cigarette their are almost two parts one have filter and other have tobacco. From where the people smoke it's quiet safe but their smoke can cause problem to other's.

Secondly, people who involved in smoking spend most of their income on buying these product. If they do not find these product on time they become angry and started shouting. Whenever they find themselves in any difficulty they start smoking rather than discussing to other who helps them.

Thirdly, smoking has heavy effect on relationship/society. People does not like to meet the smoker to save their lives even families not let their children to spend time with their grandparents because of their bad habit. Parents are very protective among their children.

Last but not least, smoking also has negative effects on environment such as their smoke cause air pollution also disturb the cleanliness of homes.

In conclusion, smoking has many negative effects on health such as cause lung's and heart diseases as well as on environment by causing air pollution. It should be made illegal and banned by government to avoid such type of problems.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

You have addressed the prompt by taking a clear position in favor of banning smoking. You provide several reasons, such as health impacts, financial burden, and social consequences. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat superficial. For instance, the explanation regarding the 'two parts' of a cigarette is unclear and does not effectively support your argument. To improve, ensure that each paragraph focuses on a single, well-developed argument with a clear link back to why the government should intervene. While your position is consistent, the supporting evidence lacks the depth and academic tone required for a higher band score.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, which helps the reader follow your argument. You use basic cohesive devices like 'Firstly,' 'Secondly,' and 'In conclusion' to signal the structure. However, the flow between sentences is often mechanical, and some transitions are missing or awkward, such as the start of the second paragraph: 'There are number of reasons behind this why to made smoking illegal'. Additionally, the use of referencing is occasionally unclear, making some sentences difficult to parse. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring smoother transitions between ideas would significantly enhance the coherence of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, but it is quite repetitive and lacks precision. You rely on basic terms like 'bad effects,' 'serious problem,' and 'negative effect.' There are also noticeable errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'effected black lung's' (should be 'affected by lung disease') and 'inhalation and exhalation' (which is technically correct but used awkwardly). To reach a higher band, you should aim to use more sophisticated vocabulary and collocations related to health and public policy, while ensuring that your word forms (e.g., noun vs. verb) are accurate.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

You demonstrate a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures, but the essay contains frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede communication. Common issues include subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'People does not like'), incorrect verb forms (e.g., 'why to made smoking'), and misuse of articles and plurals (e.g., 'effected black lung's'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with apostrophes. While your meaning is generally understandable, the high frequency of these errors limits your score. Focusing on basic sentence construction and proofreading for subject-verb agreement would be a great starting point for improvement.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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