Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-09-05

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 6.5)

It is widely argued that smoking can lead to serious diseases and can damage different organs of human body, for this purpose it should not be legalized anymore. I agree to this statement as this will play a crucial role minimizing smoking related diseases, while totally criminalizing tobacco related products will not be an effective way to reduce their consumption.

From one perspective, implementing legal restriction on these product is solely for the benefit of mankind, as it will greatly drop the health crisis related to tobacco. Tobacco related products are generally highly addictive which causes mental and physical strain on consumers, furthermore it leads to chronic illnesses like lungs cancer and many more. Treating smoking related chronic diseases cost governments billions of dollars, resources that can be utilized for improvement of infrastructure and funding studies of students all over the world. Additionally , smoking not only harms the consumer but also hazardous for indirect inhalers like, children or non-smokers near by the smokers.

However, completely restricting tobacco related products is impractical way of solving the problem. In history, there were many regulation implemented on smoking but instead of reducing it consumption, people shifted to more harmful drugs. Illegalizing cigarettes will rise their demand in black markets and people will still consume the products. This approach will ultimately strips off the government tax revenue generated from tobacco sales, while promoting and profiting the illegal criminal organizations.

In conclusion, rather than criminalizing, government should increase taxes that can greatly result in declining the sales of cigarettes and other products. Public should be guided make use of rehabilitation centers for addictive patients, decreasing the chronical health issues caused by smoking.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

You have addressed all parts of the prompt by presenting a clear position and supporting it with relevant arguments. You acknowledge the health risks of smoking while providing a balanced view on why a total ban might be ineffective. The ideas are well-developed, such as the mention of black markets and the economic impact of healthcare costs. To reach a higher band, ensure that your introduction clearly outlines your stance; currently, the first sentence is slightly contradictory by saying it should not be legalized, while the second sentence suggests criminalization is ineffective. Refining this thesis statement would improve the clarity of your position.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear progression of ideas. Each paragraph has a central focus, and you use cohesive devices such as 'From one perspective,' 'However,' and 'In conclusion' to guide the reader. While the paragraphing is effective, some transitions are slightly mechanical. For instance, the use of 'for this purpose' in the introduction is a bit awkward. Additionally, ensure that referencing is always clear; in the second paragraph, 'these product' should be plural ('these products'). Overall, the structure is sound and supports the flow of your argument well.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

You demonstrate a sufficient range of vocabulary to discuss the topic with some precision. Phrases like 'chronic illnesses,' 'tax revenue,' and 'rehabilitation centers' are used appropriately. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'illegalizing' (should be 'criminalizing' or 'banning'), 'indirect inhalers' (should be 'passive smokers'), and 'addictive patients' (should be 'addicted individuals'). Improving these collocations and using more sophisticated synonyms would help elevate your score. The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks the consistent precision required for higher bands.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While many sentences are clear, there are several grammatical errors that persist. For example, 'implementing legal restriction on these product' should be 'restrictions on these products,' and 'smoking not only harms... but also hazardous' is missing a verb ('is also hazardous'). There are also minor punctuation issues, such as the unnecessary space before the comma in 'Additionally ,'. While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and article usage will lead to significant improvement.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.