Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-10-05

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 6.0)

Drug and substance abuse has become detrimental to well being. It is undeniably that smoking has cause complicated ailments and the best way to curb this behaviour is illegalising smoking. I completely agree that smoking should be banned in order to control its adverse effects.

One primary reason as to why smoking should be made illegal, is for the goverment to spend its expenditure on other crucial services on its citizens. A significant amount of capital is used in offering treaments to smokers. Active smokers experience deadly diseases such as lung cancer and breathing problems, thus governments invest alot money buying medicines and lab equipments. This expenditure would have been diverted to building of roads and public hospitals, which would serve a larger population than concentrating on a specific demography.

Another reason in support of banning smoking is to protect passive smokers. The most affected group is non smokers. This is attributed by inhalling a considerable amount of toxic fumes released by active smorkers. For instance in crowded places like amusement parks, spectators are prone to take in poisonous gases from smokers, therefore this brings allergies and sneezing which later translates to contagious ailments. However, establishing smoking free zones won't curb spread of fumes to other places, thus the only appropriate method to manage smoking is illegalising.

In conclusion,smokers have witnessed detoriation of health,and also passive smokers still suffer the same problems as active smokers. This has forced goverments to invest a large proportion of its spending in managing lives of smokers. So the best method to safe its citizens is by total ban of smoking substances .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response successfully addresses all parts of the task by presenting a clear position throughout that smoking should be made illegal. The writer explores relevant ideas such as government expenditure on healthcare and the protection of passive smokers, which fully meets the requirements of the lower band. However, some ideas are slightly under-developed or contain generalisations, such as the claim that second-hand smoke leads to contagious ailments, which stops the response from reaching a higher band. To achieve a higher score, the writer needs to extend these main points with more precise, fully articulated explanations and concrete examples rather than relying on sweeping assertions.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, distinct body paragraphs, and a concluding summary, satisfying the requirements of the lower band. Information and ideas are generally logically sequenced, and the writer attempts to use cohesive devices such as 'One primary reason' and 'Another reason in support of'. However, referencing and cohesion can sometimes feel a bit mechanical, and some transitions between sentences lack smoothness. To move to the next band, the writer should ensure that cohesive devices are used more flexibly and naturally, and that paragraph transitions guide the reader seamlessly through a sophisticated progression of arguments.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common items such as 'detrimental', 'demography', and 'expenditure'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors, awkward word choices, and spelling mistakes throughout the text, such as 'illegalising', 'goverment', 'treaments', 'inhalling', 'smorkers', and 'detoriation'. These errors reflect the characteristics of this band level, where vocabulary control is limited. To improve to a higher band, the writer must expand their lexical repertoire, pay closer attention to word formation and spelling, and use collocations more accurately so that precise meanings are conveyed without distracting the reader.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating structures such as conditional and relative clauses. There are, however, some errors in grammar, punctuation, and article usage, such as 'It is undeniably that smoking has cause', 'invest alot money', and missing articles before nouns like 'non smokers'. These errors represent the typical mix of grammar issues found at this level, though they rarely impede overall communication. To reach the next band, the writer needs to increase control over complex sentence structures, ensure proper verb agreement and tense consistency, and eliminate recurring mechanical errors to produce a higher proportion of error-free sentences.

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