Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-10-06

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)

Smoking can cause severe sicknesses and should be made illegal.

In my opinion, I agree that smoking is definetly bad to our health and should be banned.

Firstly, smoking can be influencial. Due to peer pressure and abd company, young adults believes that smoking is a normal thing to do at their age. That is why it is lablled under the age of 18 in most countries. In some schools or communities where there are youths who does not smoke, it looks like they do not belong in that particular area, they are treated like outcast, those who smoke and does other illegal things form a group for themselves and gang up to bully, beat or harass others who are innocent.

Secondly, people who smoke are liable to die young as labelled in the cigarett pack. They are prone to different kinds of diseases such as, lungs infection, asthma, kidney problem, liver problem and some heart related diseases.

Smoking also affect people who stays close to smokers whenever they are smoking because they inhale it and it tends to be a threat to their health, that is why it should be made illegal.

In addition, smoking affects ones mental health. Some individuals who smoke are exposed to mental disorders. In fact majority of mental issues today are as a result of smoking. Some peole behaves abnormal each time they smoke and it affects them and people around them, for instance, destroying of properties, self harm, evil thoughts [killing], and sometimes rape.

In conclusion, somking is very bad and can also be addictive, having friends who smokes should be limited. The ministry of health should make smoking illegal and charge anyone who is guity, by doing so, people will live a healthy life.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by presenting a clear position that smoking should be made illegal and providing reasons to support this view. However, some ideas are more fully developed than others. While the points regarding health risks and second-hand smoke are adequately explained, the arguments relating to peer pressure and mental health are somewhat under-developed and rely on over-generalised claims, such as stating that 'majority of mental issues today are as a result of smoking'. To move to a higher level, the writer needs to extend their supporting arguments with more logical reasoning and realistic examples rather than extreme assertions.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion, and the use of sequencing devices such as 'Firstly', 'Secondly', and 'In addition' helps to structure the arguments. However, the progression of ideas is sometimes mechanical or repetitive, and referencing is not always completely clear. Paragraphing is attempted, but the internal logical flow within paragraphs occasionally breaks down due to abrupt shifts in ideas, such as moving from peer pressure to school bullying without smooth transitions. To improve, the writer should ensure that each paragraph focuses on a single, well-connected theme and use a wider variety of cohesive devices naturally rather than relying on basic enumerators.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The writer demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task and attempts some less common items such as 'harass', 'addictive', and 'guilty'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'definetly', 'influencial', 'abd', 'lablled', 'cigarett', and 'somking'. Furthermore, collocation is occasionally awkward, such as 'lungs infection' instead of lung infection and 'peole behaves abnormal' instead of behave abnormally. While these lexical errors do not seriously impede communication, they restrict the score because accuracy in word choice and spelling is inconsistent. Expanding precision and eliminating basic spelling slips will help lift the vocabulary score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over basic structures. However, there are numerous errors in grammar, plurals, and subject-verb agreement throughout the text, such as 'young adults believes' instead of believe, 'youths who does not smoke' instead of do not smoke, and 'people who stays' instead of stay. Articles and prepositions are also occasionally misused, as seen in 'on the cigarett pack' or 'as a result of smoking'. These errors require some effort from the reader to parse, placing the grammar firmly in this band. To achieve a higher score, the writer needs to produce a greater proportion of error-free sentences and pay closer attention to grammatical agreement and tense consistency.

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