Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-09-16
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 opinion Smoking causes serious illness and should be made illegal. Smoking directly effects our lungs and blood cells and may cause cancer or many other desieas. It may cause 50 chemical which are not refined and may caused of asthema for children and those who have some lungs problems.
Smoker inhales one puff but when they exales it this may cause issue for others and as well as them. I believe there are multiple things people can do while doing smoking to less there effects on health like they use filters and some of them use high quality Tombaku.
According to me people don't have any proper knowledge about the seriousness about this topic. They only use it for entertainment, some of them use to smoking like the addiction level, and few started newly just for fun.
There are multiple reasons to avoid smoking like it my directly effect our lungs and articulatus, and people those who use at first as an entertainment later they become idected more-over its total waste of money. For example I saw a documentary on Discovery channel those who use to smoking will die early and in this documentary they talk about smoking is the first step towards drugs.
Therefore some people argues that smoking is good for reduce depression and tension in addition to it I read a novel in my library that about benifits of smoking for mental health.
In the end I think smoking is not good for our health and may cause multiple desieas like cancer, asthama, and TB. but some researchers argue that its good for mental health for instance to reduce depression and anxity.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 4.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 4.5 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear, albeit somewhat contradictory, position on whether smoking should be made illegal. The writer attempts to cover various aspects of the task, such as health effects and passive smoking, but the ideas remain largely under-developed. For example, the statement that smoking 'may cause 50 chemical which are not refined' lacks clarity and sufficient support. Furthermore, towards the end of the essay, the writer introduces counterarguments regarding mental health and stress relief without effectively refuting them or integrating them into a cohesive stance. While the writer attempts to provide personal examples, such as a Discovery channel documentary and a novel, these points are superficial and lack depth. Consequently, the task is addressed only partially, which aligns with Band 5 descriptors.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The essay demonstrates some organization with paragraphs attempting to separate different points, such as health impacts, social behavior, and counterarguments. However, there is no clear overall progression of ideas, and the logical transitions between paragraphs are frequently weak. For instance, the transition from discussing the Discovery channel documentary to the counterargument that 'some people argues that smoking is good for reduce depression' is abrupt. Additionally, cohesive devices are often mechanical, inaccurate, or repetitive, as seen in the frequent use of 'in the end', 'therefore', and 'in addition to it'. Referencing is also sometimes unclear, creating confusion for the reader. These features correspond to a Band 5 performance.
Lexical Resource — Band 4.5
The lexical resource is limited and displays noticeable errors that can occasionally impede comprehension. The vocabulary used is quite basic and repetitive, with words like 'smoking', 'health', and 'diseases' (spelled as 'desieas') recurring frequently. There are numerous word-choice and spelling errors throughout the text, such as 'effects' instead of 'affects', 'tombaku' for tobacco, 'articulatus', 'idected' for addicted, and 'anxity'. While the writer attempts some less common vocabulary, such as 'addiction level' and 'documentary', the persistent inaccuracies in spelling and collocation place this response securely at Band 4.0 or 4.5; a score of 4.5 reflects the adequate communication of basic ideas despite the strain caused by errors.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.5
The grammatical range is quite limited, consisting primarily of simple sentences and flawed attempts at complex structures. There are frequent grammatical errors that cause difficulty for the reader, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('Smoking directly effects', 'some people argues'), incorrect prepositional use ('doing smoking', 'use at first as an entertainment'), and tense inconsistencies. Punctuation is also poorly managed, with run-on sentences and missing commas disrupting the flow. For example, the sentence 'Smoker inhales one puff but when they exales it this may cause issue for others and as well as them' contains multiple grammatical and structural errors. Due to the high frequency of errors across basic and complex sentences, this response merits a Band 4.5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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