Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-10-08

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)

It is strongly argued that smoking is injurious to health and can cause serious harmful medical conditions in our body. I largely agree with the statement that smoking should be made illegal.

On major reason to make the smoking illegal is that it has destroyed many young people lives and caused such dangerous problems in their body such as "cancer". Smoking has become common in many places around the world, which is serious thing to be noted, it has affected children's lives too as they watch their elders smoking around the places even in their own parents. So, this will be advantageous step to make the smoking illegal so that today's generation get controlled from smoking. Furthermore, smoking damages our lungs badly and as the time passes, we feel like something's got cut inside our chest and we're not even able to walk properly though. That's one of the big addictions which makes us to regret later.

Additionally, there are many bad companies and peer groups that we should avoid joining ourselves. Around the planet there are a lot of people who does not understand by this harmful effect and are continuously involved in smoking. However, completely banning cigarettes may be difficult to enforce. If tobacco products were made illegal, some people might buy them through the black market. This could also lead to other problems, such as the sale of unsafe or counterfeit cigarettes. Instead, governments could increase taxes on tobacco, ban smoking in public places, restrict advertising, and introduce stronger age restrictions. These measures could discourage people from smoking while allowing governments to control the industry more effectively.

In conclusion, I agree that smoking should be strongly restricted because of its serious effects on health. However, rather than immediately making it completely illegal, governments should focus on strict regulations, higher taxes and public education. These measures could gradually reduce smoking rates and protect people from its harmful effects.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear: you largely agree that smoking should be illegal, while concluding that strict regulation is more practical than an immediate total ban. You address health harms and explain why prohibition could create black-market and counterfeit-product problems, then offer alternatives such as higher taxes and public education. These points are relevant and give the response a balanced answer. However, some supporting ideas are less fully developed: the claim that smoking has “destroyed many young people lives” is broad and is not supported with a specific example or explanation, and the point about peer groups is introduced without being clearly connected to your proposed policies. Develop each main reason with a concrete example and explain how it supports your final position.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a coherent overall structure: an introduction states your view, the body paragraphs present health concerns and policy considerations, and the conclusion restates your position. Connectors such as “Furthermore,” “Additionally,” “However,” and “In conclusion” help signal the stages of the argument. At times, though, cohesion is mechanical or the relationship between ideas is unclear. For example, the paragraph beginning “Additionally” moves from peer groups to the black market and then to government measures without clearly explaining how these points relate. The long sentence about smoking being common also joins several claims with a comma. Group related ideas more tightly, use clearer referencing, and make transitions explain the logic rather than simply announce a new point.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of vocabulary, including “black market,” “counterfeit cigarettes,” “restrict advertising,” and “public education,” which helps express policy ideas beyond basic health claims. Some less common expressions are attempted, but inaccurate word choice and collocation reduce precision. For instance, “serious harmful medical conditions” is awkward, “destroyed many young people lives” is not a natural way to describe the impact, and “big addictions” does not convey the intended meaning clearly. There is also repetition of “smoking” and “harmful effects.” Aim for more natural collocations and precise terms, such as “cause serious illnesses,” “young people’s health,” and “highly addictive.” This would make the argument sound more controlled and academic.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including a conditional structure in “If tobacco products were made illegal, some people might buy them through the black market,” and most of the argument remains understandable. Some grammatical errors persist, particularly with articles, agreement, possessives, and sentence boundaries. Examples include “On major reason” instead of “One major reason,” “many young people lives” instead of “many young people’s lives,” and “a lot of people who does not understand,” where the verb does not agree with the plural subject. The sentence beginning “Smoking has become common” also runs several clauses together. Review these patterns and punctuate longer sentences carefully; more consistent accuracy would make your varied structures easier to follow.

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