Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-09-28

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)

Smoking is harmful for our health, it is a world known fact. but should it be made illegal? thats the question to be answerd.

First of all, smoking is not a new habit or thing, for many centuries it is widely consumed by the humans even since the mughals era. back in early days people hadn't idea at what extent it can causes harms for health,

but now it is widely known fact that it is injerious for health, for example it can cause cancer and lungs diseases.

Secondaly Shoud it be banned? we already know that it is very harmful and alarming for we people, but banning it or making it illegal can also make things even worse.

as there are hundrads of thounsands of people who do smoking daily and are addicted to it. for example: according to a survey conducted by a science team shows that one out of five people do smoking daily.

So it is obivous thing banning it can cause even more problems than it can by consuming it.

In last, it is concluded that while smoking is harmful for the health, it can also be very risky making it not exceble for the addicted people, as it can make ciaos among people.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The student addresses the prompt by considering whether smoking should be made illegal, presenting a clear position that while smoking is harmful, banning it would create greater problems such as chaos among addicted individuals. However, the response fails the minimum length requirement, containing only 209 words compared to the required 250 words. This under-length impacts the full development of ideas, restricting the depth of support provided. While the writer attempts to introduce examples, such as the mention of a science team survey, the arguments remain somewhat limited and under-developed due to the brevity of the response. Consequently, this performance aligns with the Band 5 descriptor where the task is only partially addressed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The essay is divided into paragraphs, showing a basic attempt at logical progression through an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a brief conclusion. However, the use of cohesive devices is frequently mechanical or inaccurate, as seen with transitions like 'First of all', 'Secondaly', and 'In last'. Paragraphing is visibly weak, with the conclusion being extremely short and awkwardly phrased. Referencing and logical transitions between sentences can be disjointed, causing the flow of ideas to feel slightly repetitive. Overall, these limitations reflect the characteristics of Band 5, where organisation is present but cohesive devices and overall structure remain inadequate and mechanical.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student demonstrates a limited but minimally adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using common words related to the topic such as 'addicted', 'survey', and 'consumed'. However, there are numerous noticeable spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'answerd', 'mughals', 'injerious', 'Secondaly', 'hundrads of thounsands', 'obivous', 'exceble', and 'ciaos'. These lexical inaccuracies and spelling mistakes cause some difficulty for the reader and prevent the vocabulary from reaching a higher band level, fitting comfortably within the Band 5 descriptor.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control over grammar and punctuation is inconsistent. There are frequent punctuation and capitalization errors, such as starting sentences with lowercase letters ('smoking is harmful...', 'thats the question...', 'as there are...'). Run-on sentences and comma splices are also present, for instance, 'Smoking is harmful for our health, it is a world known fact.' Complex structures are often faulty, and frequent grammatical errors occasionally cause difficulty for the reader. This performance corresponds well to Band 5, featuring a limited range of structures and frequent errors.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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