Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-08-27

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)

The cause for some major diseases is smoking. Government should ban smoking at public places as well as it should be made illegal to buy or sale.

Smoking should be banned especially in public places because it not only cause serious illness to the consumer but also to people around him or her. When a person smoke, he inhales it through a filter but when he exhales people around him inhales those dangerous substances from the air.

For instance, my father smoke regularly, when I was living nearby him, I suffer from cough most of the time because I inhale the dangerous particles from the air exhaled by my father. But as now, I am not living with my father and my cough problem almost resolve because nobody around me is now smoking regularly and I do not have to inhale particles which are causing illnesses.

Similarly, smoking is also injurious to the health of the consumer because not every particle is filtered and he also inhales from the same air he exhales. For example, as i told in the previous paragraph that my father is a smoker, he has a heart disease and go through by-pass surgery last year. The Doctor advised him not to smoke ever again, but he is still smoking.

This addiction is injurious not only for the consumers but also for the people around him. That is why, government should ban smoking at least at public places. Therefore people who do not smoke and do not have any smoker around them can at least be safe.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position that smoking should be illegal. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. While you provide personal examples regarding your father, the argument would be stronger if you explored broader societal or economic implications of a total ban, rather than focusing primarily on the health effects of secondhand smoke. The task asks for the extent to which you agree with a total ban, but your conclusion focuses mainly on public places, which slightly contradicts your opening statement that it should be made illegal to buy or sell. To reach a higher band, ensure your supporting arguments consistently align with your initial thesis throughout the essay.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. You use some cohesive devices such as 'For instance', 'Similarly', and 'Therefore' to link ideas. However, the flow between sentences is occasionally mechanical, and some transitions feel repetitive. The referencing is generally clear, though the connection between the introduction and the conclusion could be tighter. To improve, try using a wider variety of linking words and ensure that the progression of ideas within paragraphs is more fluid rather than relying on simple sentence-by-sentence transitions.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. You use basic terms like 'serious illnesses', 'dangerous substances', and 'injurious'. While these are accurate, there is little evidence of less common or idiomatic language. There are also some word-choice errors, such as 'buy or sale' (should be 'buy or sell') and 'go through by-pass surgery' (should be 'underwent bypass surgery'). To improve, focus on using more sophisticated collocations and precise terminology related to health and public policy.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede the flow of reading. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('he inhales', 'people around him inhales'), tense inconsistencies ('my father smoke', 'I suffer from cough'), and article usage errors. While the meaning is generally clear, these persistent errors prevent the essay from reaching a higher band. Focus on proofreading for basic subject-verb agreement and ensuring consistent verb tenses throughout your writing.

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

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