Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-09-13

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)

In recent decades, people have been debating about the serious health hazards caused by smoking and demanding it to be made illegal. I strongly agree to this view it is because I believe smoking is injurious to our health and can shorten our lifespan.

One of the significant reason of making smoking illegal is that, it causes serious illnesses to person who is addicted to smoking. It can cause chronic illness to our lungs making it harder to breathe in the future, moreover, the chances of chronic diseases like asthma can be increased. For instance, a person who is a chain smoker, would much likely to develop asthma than someone who do not smoke. As a result, the person would not be considered medically fit for any sports activity.

Another major reason of making it illegal is that it decreases the lifespan of an individual breathing the same air as him. When smokers consume cigarettes in public places, the people around them may inhale second hand smoke, which can be harmful, especially for children and elderly people. Moreover banning smoking would discourage the younger generation from developing the unhealthy habit. For example, an individual standing with a person who is consuming cigarette, is likely to develop health issues. As a result, people would start liking a healthy lifestyle and their lifespan would also increase.

In conclusion, I strongly agree that smoking should be made illegal because it can cause serious health problems, reduce people’s lifespan and negatively affect those around them.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses the prompt by clearly stating a position agreeing that smoking should be made illegal. The main body paragraphs provide reasons to support this stance, such as health hazards for smokers and passive smoking risks for those around them. However, some ideas are repetitive and under-developed. For instance, the discussion on asthma and chain smokers lacks specific extension, and the arguments occasionally lean on generalisations without deeper exploration. While all parts of the task are addressed, the depth of development places this response in the Band 6 range.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay has a clear overall arrangement with an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas, such as direct health impacts versus second-hand smoke. Cohesive devices are employed, including transition markers like 'Moreover', 'For instance', and 'In conclusion'. However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes mechanical or slightly awkward, such as 'One of the significant reason of making smoking illegal is that, it causes...'. Progression is generally clear, but the logical flow between sentences could be smoother, justifying a Band 6.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'injurious', 'chronic illness', and 'second hand smoke'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'One of the significant reason' instead of 'reasons', 'person who is addicted to smoking' where 'smokers' would suffice, and 'would much likely to develop' which contains grammatical and lexical flaws. Spelling is generally accurate, but the lexical control is limited, making Band 5.5 a fair reflection of the range and precision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including conditional-like structures and relative clauses (e.g., 'a person who is a chain smoker'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, such as agreement errors ('significant reason of making... is that, it causes'), missing articles ('to person who is'), and awkward phrasing ('than someone who do not smoke'). While these errors do not severely impede communication, they persist across both simple and complex sentences, preventing the essay from achieving a Band 6.5.

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