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)

In recent years, many idividuals became ill and suffer many diseases caused by smoking, it is often argued by some people that smoking should be illegal due to it being the cause of serious illnesses. I strongly agree with this statement, because it is proven sciencetifically that it causes a lot of diseases and can even result in death.

To begin with, smoking is a really harmful bad habit because it effects the health of individuals and any government around the world want a healthy nation, so they can build and contribute to their country. A person who smokes, not only harms himself, but also people around him, especially kids. Some people can't stand the smell of it, since it's made of toxic chemicals. Some individuals abuse the use of it, even in public overcrowded areas, which is one of the reasons why some people call for it to be criminalized.

Furthermore, smoking can cause serious illnesses for smokers, smoking gives a slight sense of joy for a certain amount of time due to having nicotine in it, but can cause heart cancer, bad breath and death. There are some changes that a smoking individual notices, like for instance, lower stamina, mood swings, change in lips colour and many other things. From my own personal exeperience, some of my friends whom they used to smoke reported to me these exact same changes and they feel a lot better by now.

However, some people argue that making smoking illegal can restrict the freedom and free will that every individual has, on the other hand, we should raise awareness against smoking for a more healthy society.

In conclusion, I frimly believe smoking should be made illegal and that's not just the only solution. We should help people who want to stop smoking and raise awareness on how dangerous smoking can be.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task, presenting a clear position throughout that smoking should be made illegal. Main ideas are presented and relevant to the prompt, such as health consequences and secondhand smoke, which meets the criteria for addressing the prompt adequately. However, some ideas are under-developed or lack sufficient extension. For example, while the writer mentions that smoking affects individuals and kids, this point is not fully elaborated with specific examples or deep explanation. To move to a higher band, the writer needs to fully develop all parts of the response with more extended explanations and specific, well-supported arguments rather than moving quickly from one point to the next.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

There is a coherent overall arrangement to the essay, and the writer makes an attempt to logically sequence ideas with basic cohesive devices like 'To begin with', 'Furthermore', and 'In conclusion'. Paragraphing is used to separate different points, showing a clear structure. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. For instance, run-on sentences and comma splices, such as in the introduction ('In recent years, many idividuals became ill and suffer many diseases caused by smoking, it is often argued...'), weaken the logical flow between clauses. To achieve a higher band, the writer should use a wider and more flexible range of cohesive devices and ensure that referencing and sentence linking are smoother and more precise throughout the text.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The writer uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common vocabulary such as 'criminalized', 'secondhand' concepts, and 'nicotine'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors that detract from precision, such as 'idividuals', 'sciencetifically', 'exeperience', 'lips colour', and 'frimly'. Additionally, collocations like 'heart cancer' are inaccurate. These errors do not seriously impede communication, but they reflect limitations in lexical control. To improve to a higher band, the writer must expand the range of vocabulary, improve spelling accuracy, and demonstrate a better understanding of word choice and natural collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting complex structures such as relative clauses and conditional-style reasoning. There are some errors in grammar and punctuation, including tense inconsistencies ('many idividuals became ill and suffer'), incorrect verb forms ('whom they used to smoke'), and punctuation issues like comma splices connecting independent clauses. Fortunately, these errors rarely impede communication and the meaning remains clear. To reach a higher level, the writer needs to incorporate a wider variety of error-free complex structures and exercise better control over punctuation, subject-verb agreement, and tense consistency.

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

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