Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-09-29
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 world, some people believe that smoking can cause serious illness and should be made illegal. I partially agree with this view because it prevents people from being affected by various diseases and helps in saving money that is spent on this dangerous activity. However, making the smoking activity illegal may affect the overall economy and GDP of a country and also negatively affects various tobacco companies.
Firstly, smoking activity can cause various heath problems such as heart attack, teeth problems, high blood pressure and so on, making them illegal helps individual to remain healthy and prevents from causing these kinds of diseases. Therefore, smoking should be made illegal due to health problems. Secondly, it helps people to save a huge sum of money that are spent on this type of activity. This is because some individual spend a large amount of money on smoking, which may lead to a lack of savings.
On the other hand, if smoking is made illegal then it might affect the overall economy and GDP of the country. Smoking is done by a large number of people and making them illegal could affect the tax collection source of the government. Thus, the country's economy may decline due to this method. Additionally, this view even affect the tobacco companies as a large proportion of tobacco is used in smoking. Companies make a huge amount of profit by using tobacco in cigarates and if this becomes illegal, they have to suffer from the huge losses.
In conclusion, I partially agree that smoking should be made illegal because it helps individuals to remain healthy and encourages them to save money. However, banning smoking activities might affect the country's economy and tobacco companies. I believe that government should be cautious about the smoking activity but making them illegal completely may affect the country itself.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0
The response addresses all parts of the task by presenting a clear position on whether smoking should be made illegal. The writer explores both sides of the argument, discussing the health benefits of a ban in the first body paragraph and the economic and corporate consequences in the second body paragraph. The position is maintained throughout the essay. However, the ideas could be further extended and supported with more specific examples or data rather than generalized statements such as 'various health problems such as heart attack, teeth problems, high blood pressure and so on'. Overall, the task is adequately fulfilled, positioning the essay comfortably at Band 6.5 to 7.0, with a well-rounded discussion characteristic of Band 6.5.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, two distinct body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Logical organization and progression are evident through basic cohesive markers like 'Firstly', 'Secondly', and 'On the other hand'. However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For instance, the pronoun 'them' in 'making them illegal' incorrectly refers back to singular nouns or general concepts in a confusing manner, such as 'smoking activity' or 'smoking'. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate main ideas, but the flow between sentences could be smoother. This level of cohesion and logical progression aligns with the Band 6 descriptors.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'overall economy', 'tax collection source', and 'proportional of tobacco'. However, there are noticeable word-choice and collocation errors, such as using 'making the smoking activity illegal' instead of 'banning smoking', and spelling mistakes like 'heath' instead of 'health' and 'cigarates' instead of 'cigarettes'. While these lexical inaccuracies do not impede communication, they restrict the score to a Band 6, as the vocabulary lacks the precision and flexibility required for higher band levels.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The essay employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over grammar. Examples of complex structures include 'I partially agree with this view because it prevents people from...'. Nevertheless, there are frequent errors in agreement and phrasing, such as 'money that are spent' (should be 'is spent') and 'government should be cautious about the smoking activity but making them illegal'. Punctuation is generally acceptable, and while errors in grammar occur throughout, they rarely impede communication. This balance of mixed structures and persistent errors fits the Band 6 criteria.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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