Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

Smoking is injurious to health and causes serious illnesses such as lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases. The easy access to cigarettes and vapes has made them common among youngsters, adults, and older people. I agree that smoking practices should be prohibited, but I also believe that it is a personal choice.

The addiction to smoking can make people anxious and annoyed if they can't find cigarettes, and it affects their concentration levels and nervous system. If cigarettes and vapes are made illegal, many companies that introduce such products will be shut down. As a result, supply will be reduced, which will turn into lesser consumers. Smoking addiction also consumes a major share of people's income; banning it will help them save their health and resources. Addictions take people to hospitals when they use them consistently or in excess. Therefore, the resources that could be used to save other lives are consumed on people who don't care for themselves. Therefore, it should be banned so youngsters don't get exposed to such practices and can stay healthy.

Whereas I also believe banning such things can't stop their consumption. If it is banned, people will go through illegal ways to get cigarettes and vapes, which can be more dangerous. In the process, they might meet drug dealers who expand access to other addictive things. Restricting smoking doesn't result in less usage. Such as, at my university, smoking wasn't allowed and there was no smoking area provided, so students often did it secretly. When it comes to choosing what is healthy and what isn't, a person should be able to decide it on their own and not the government.

There can be other ways where the government and common people join hands to fight against such practices. The government can provide awareness sessions with the help of experts and doctors to spread awareness about the diseases that smoking can cause and the solutions to get rid of the addiction. They can also create rehabilitation centres that can help people through the journey of escaping addiction. People could decide to leave the addiction for the sake of their own health and for their family.

Overall, you can't chain humans to stop them from certain things. They will always go for forbidden fruit. But you can always make them aware of its side effects and let them decide for their life.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The candidate addresses all parts of the task by presenting a clear position on whether smoking should be made illegal. In the introduction, the writer presents a nuanced stance, stating 'I agree that smoking practices should be prohibited, but I also believe that it is a personal choice.' This balanced viewpoint is further developed across the body paragraphs, where the candidate explores the economic and health benefits of a ban, as well as the counter-argument that prohibition might drive consumption underground and infringe on personal liberty. Ideas are generally well-supported with relevant explanations, such as the discussion on supply reduction and personal autonomy. However, the progression of ideas occasionally feels slightly repetitive, particularly around the consequences of addiction. Overall, the task is addressed effectively, warranting a solid Band 7.0 for fully addressing the prompt with a clear, extended position.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay displays a clear overall progression and logical organisation. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct thematic points, moving from the health and financial impacts of smoking to the counter-arguments regarding prohibition, and finally to alternative solutions like awareness and rehabilitation. Cohesive devices are employed with reasonable success, such as 'As a result,' 'Therefore,' and 'Whereas I also believe.' However, there are some minor mechanical links and cohesion issues; for instance, beginning a paragraph with 'Whereas I also believe' is slightly unnatural in academic register. Referencing is generally clear, though occasional transitional lapses occur between sentences. Paragraphs are unified around central topics, ensuring the reader can follow the argument without difficulty. This places the response comfortably at Band 6.5 to 7.0; clear logical organisation and paragraphing earn a Band 7.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The candidate demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary for the task, allowing for some flexibility and precision with terms like 'cardiovascular diseases,' 'prohibited,' 'rehabilitation centres,' and 'personal choice.' Less common lexical items are attempted with some awareness of collocation, such as 'supply will be reduced' and 'expand access to other addictive things.' However, there are occasional word choice and phrasing inaccuracies, such as 'turn into lesser consumers' instead of 'fewer consumers,' and 'leave the addiction' instead of 'overcome the addiction.' Spelling and word formation are generally accurate and do not impede communication. Because the vocabulary range is adequate with some successful attempts at less common phrasing, the response fits well within the Band 6.0 to 6.5 range, with Band 6.5 reflecting the successful inclusion of more sophisticated topic-specific terms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including conditional clauses ('If cigarettes and vapes are made illegal...') and relative clauses. There is a good variety of sentence forms across the essay. Grammatical control is generally sound, though a few errors and awkward constructions persist. For instance, 'When it comes to choosing what is healthy and what isn't, a person should be able to decide it on their own' contains a slight redundancy with 'decide it on their own,' and 'consume on people' in the second paragraph is a minor collocation/preposition error. Punctuation is generally accurate, and errors do not impede communication. The presence of frequent error-free complex sentences alongside a few minor systematic slips supports a Band 6.5 score.

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