Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

Serious illnesses can be caused by smoking, the question whether it should be made illegal or not remains a contentious issue. In this essay, I will discuss serious health problems caused due to smoking such as lung cancer, thereby making it illegal is a step towards the right direction.

Smoking is the root cause of serious lung diseases. Cigrattes contains harmful substances and chemicals which damages body, especially the lungs. For instance, a report from the World Health Organisation (WHO), mentioned that smoking is the most common cause of cancer in humans. Smoking not only affects the smoker but also the ones around him/her. In addition, a new report suggests that smoking can also lead to mouth cancer and throat cancer. Many organisations around the world are protesting to the government to make cigrattes illegal.

Although making cigrattes illegal is the right thing to do, it still wont stop people from smoking. Whenver a product is banned by the government, it opens up a black market that continues the supply to the consumers illegally. Therefore, governments should initally prohibit smokers from smoking in public spaces and charge them with heavy penalties, if caught. Eventually, to stop people from smoking completely, governments should take measures to stop the supply of smoking devices including cigrattes, e-cigrattes, and vapes from the market. The smokers should be provided free rehabilitation so that they can quite smoking.

In conclusion, I strongly agree that smoking is the primary cause of cancer. To help smokers quit, governments should take small initiative before making smoking completely illegal, strating from prohibiting people to smoke in public space. Eventually make smoking illegal and completely shutting down the supply to the market.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, exploring whether smoking should be made illegal and presenting a clear position throughout. The writer argues that serious health issues warrant a ban, while also acknowledging the practical complexities such as black markets. Ideas are extended and supported with relevant examples, such as referencing the World Health Organisation to highlight health risks. However, some arguments regarding the transition from public bans to a total ban could be slightly better elaborated. Overall, the task is addressed well, matching the requirements of Band 7.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay has a clear overall progression and logical organisation. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the introduction, the health arguments, the counter-arguments regarding prohibition, and the conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'For instance', 'In addition', and 'Therefore' are employed to link ideas, although there are minor mechanical transitions or slightly unnatural phrasings like 'thereby making it illegal is a step towards the right direction'. Despite minor flaws in cohesion, the progression remains clear and easy to follow, aligning closely with Band 6.5 or 7.0 descriptors. A score of 6.5 is appropriate here due to occasional repetitive cohesive structures.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, incorporating terms such as 'contentious issue', 'rehabilitation', and 'prohibit'. There are, however, spelling errors and slips throughout the text, notably 'Cigrattes' instead of cigarettes, 'damages' instead of damage, 'initally', 'strating', and 'quite' instead of quit. While these lexical errors do not impede overall communication, they prevent the lexical score from reaching higher bands. The vocabulary is generally sufficient for the topic, allowing the writer to convey their arguments adequately.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including conditional and subordinate clauses (e.g., 'Whenver a product is banned by the government, it opens up a black market...'). There are, nevertheless, several grammatical and punctuation errors present, such as 'the question whether it should be made illegal or not remains' (missing preposition or structural awkwardness), 'it still wont stop', and minor punctuation slips. Errors occur frequently enough to prevent a higher band, but they rarely impede overall comprehension, making this a solid Band 6 performance.

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