Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-09-27
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 today's rapidly evolving world, the issue of smoking has sparked considerable debate. Government should take actions to make this act completely prohibited as it is responsible for grave health problems. I am completely inclined to agree with this statement. This essay will discuss this issue with compelling arguments and real world examples.
On the first stand, smoking can cause srious health issues like cancer and lungs diseases. One of the chemicals filled in a cigarette is nicotine, which is responsible for the cough and it causes lungs cancer. The lungs of the smoker will tuen into a burnt form due to continuous breathing in the burnt cigarette. It causes coughing in the smoker which won't go away whatever remedies they do. This causes their lungs to experience serious stress and they will be unable to fulfil their function of breathing properly. This becomes even more relavant when considering the example of World health organization. Last year, WHO has reported that 95% people suffering from the lungs cancer are the ones who has the habbit of smoking in their lives. A smoker also loses his appetite with time. Not only the lungs caner, mouth cancer and caner of lips and tongue is also caused by smoking.
On the second hand, smoking is injurious not only to the one who smokes but also to others who are breathing in the viccinity. A sudy has shown that the smoke of a burnt cigarette relases tar, which is a very detrimental chemical, in the air. And the people breathing that air filled with tar in would most likely to experience the health problems more gruesome than a smoker. So, the Government should take proper actions to stop this evil from prevailing in the society. Government should make legislation in this regard and charge penalties in case of non-compliance.
In conclusion, smoking is a serious issue in contemporary society. The given arguments reinforces my belief and proper should be taken from the Government to address this problem.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The student clearly states a position in the introduction, declaring that they are 'completely inclined to agree with this statement' that smoking should be made illegal. The body paragraphs attempt to address both health reasons and passive smoking to support this viewpoint. However, the development of ideas suffers from over-generalisation and unsupported claims, such as the statistic that '95% people suffering from the lungs cancer are the ones who has the habbit of smoking'. Furthermore, there is some repetition in discussing lung damage and various types of cancer. While all parts of the task are addressed, the arguments remain somewhat limited and under-developed, aligning best with Band 6.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The essay is structured into five paragraphs, including an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion, showing a clear overall arrangement. The student uses basic cohesive markers such as 'On the first stand', 'On the second hand', and 'In conclusion' to signal progression. However, some transitions are unnatural or inaccurate, such as 'On the first stand' and 'On the second hand' instead of 'On the one hand' and 'On the other hand'. Referencing is generally clear, but paragraph internal cohesion can feel mechanical, resulting in a cohesive profile that sits comfortably at Band 6.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the student to communicate their ideas about health issues and government legislation. There are several attempts to use less common or topic-specific vocabulary, such as 'contemporary society', 'legislation', and 'non-compliance'. However, there are multiple spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, including 'srious' instead of 'serious', 'tuen' instead of 'turn', 'relavant' instead of 'relevant', 'habbit' instead of 'habit', 'caner' instead of 'cancer', 'viccinity' instead of 'vicinity', and 'relases' instead of 'releases'. These errors do not seriously impede communication, matching the criteria for Band 6.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The writer employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over sentence structure with clauses linked by relative pronouns and conjunctions. However, there are frequent grammatical errors and awkward phrasings, such as 'Government should take actions' (missing article), '95% people ... are the ones who has' (subject-verb agreement error), 'the smoke of a burnt cigarette relases tar ... in the air' (preposition and article usage), and 'proper should be taken from the Government' (incomplete sentence structure). While these errors occur regularly, they rarely obscure the intended meaning, placing the performance at Band 5.5, which rounds to Band 6 for overall grading.
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