Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

In my perspective, this is true smoking can cause serious illnesses and should be illegal because it only leads to serious diseases for instance lung cancer, in my opinion some people smoke just for fun, and it become their habitat, some people smoke when they feel depressed, after smoking they feel relaxed so they become addicted to it.

Smoking contains serious chemicals like nicotine, tar which are highly addictive so a person cannot survive without it. Some people smoke regularly so the numbers of cigarettes increases day by day, causes serious health problems, when they don’t feel relaxed after smoking they start trying new thing like weed joint which are very dangerous.

Now if we talk about young youth they are highly addictive towards smoking because of bad company and people sometimes i think it is due to shopkeeper, who sell cigarettes to youth, it should be illegal.

Smoking should be illegal specially when it comes to students because boys over age of 15 are not mature, and due to bad company they just started smoking for fun, too look cool but in reality they become addicted to it and in future it causes serious illness. There should be proper check and balance, so shopkeepers cannot sell cigarettes to young people even to older people

In my experience i have seen many young people destroying themselves, their futures and i think bad parenting is also a reason children smoke, students become so depressed they start smoking. Once in my area i see small children smoking, i think they were 11 years old and i was shocked, even girls also smoke.

And many of my neighbours, friend family, relatives died due to smoking like one of my relatives died due to lung cancer because he smoke a lot even after his disease was diagnosed he still smokes because he was so addicted to it

Lastly, i think smoking should be illegal because it is destroying our youth young and this young generation is future of our country

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response addresses the prompt by expressing a clear position that smoking should be illegal. However, the development of ideas is limited and often repetitive. While you mention health risks and the impact on youth, the arguments lack depth and academic structure. For instance, the transition from discussing health risks to blaming shopkeepers and parents is abrupt and lacks a cohesive logical flow. To improve, you should focus on developing two or three main arguments with clear supporting evidence rather than listing various points in a stream-of-consciousness style. The conclusion is brief and does not fully synthesize the points made in the body paragraphs.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay is organized into paragraphs, but the internal structure of these paragraphs is weak. There is a lack of effective cohesive devices; sentences are often linked by commas or simple conjunctions like 'and', which creates a run-on effect. For example, the first paragraph is essentially one long, rambling sentence. The progression of ideas is not always logical, making it difficult for the reader to follow your line of reasoning. To improve, use transition words such as 'furthermore', 'consequently', or 'in addition' to connect your ideas more effectively and ensure each paragraph focuses on a single, well-developed theme.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is generally basic and repetitive. You frequently use simple words like 'serious', 'people', and 'smoking'. There are also instances of incorrect word usage, such as 'habitat' instead of 'habit' and 'addictive' used as a verb ('they are highly addictive towards smoking'). While the meaning is generally clear, the range is insufficient to express complex ideas with precision. To reach a higher band, try to incorporate more academic collocations and precise terminology related to public health and legislation, such as 'detrimental', 'legislation', 'addiction', or 'preventative measures'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede readability. There are many run-on sentences and comma splices, such as 'In my perspective, this is true smoking can cause serious illnesses...'. Subject-verb agreement and tense consistency are also problematic, for example, 'once in my area i see small children' should be 'I saw'. The range of sentence structures is limited, relying mostly on simple or poorly connected compound sentences. To improve, focus on mastering basic sentence punctuation, specifically avoiding comma splices, and practice using a variety of complex sentence structures with correct subordinating conjunctions.

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

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