Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

smoking is one of the most common unhealthy habits in the world. it can cause many nserious diseases and also affect people who are around smokers. therefore i strongly agree that smoking should be made illegal, although this should be done gradually.

Firstly, smoking is a major cause of serious health problems. People who smoke regularly have a higher risk of developing lung cancer, heart disease and other breathing problems. In addition, smoking can reduce a person’s life expectancy. For example, many long-term smokers suffer from breathing difficulties and need regular medical treatment. If smoking was banned, fewer people would be exposed to these harmful substances and the number of smoking-related illnesses could decrease.

Secondly, smoking does not only affect smokers. Second-hand smoke can also be harmful to family members, children and other people nearby. For instance, children who live with parents who smoke may breathe polluted air every day. This can cause breathing problems and other health issues. A ban could therefore create a cleaner and healthier environment for everyone.

However, completely banning cigarettes immediately could create some problems. Many people are addicted to nicotine, so they may find it very difficult to stop suddenly. It could also lead to illegal cigarette markets. Therefore, governments should first increase taxes on cigarettes, ban smoking in public places and provide free programmes to help smokers quit.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

Your position is clear from the introduction: you strongly support making smoking illegal, while qualifying that this should happen gradually. You address health risks, second-hand smoke and the practical difficulty of an immediate ban, with relevant examples such as children living with smokers. This covers the task, but some points are asserted rather than fully explained: for example, you say a ban would reduce illness without exploring how a gradual transition would achieve this. The proposed measures—taxes, public-place restrictions and quit programmes—are useful, but their connection to eventual prohibition could be made clearer. The response is 25 words below the required minimum, so it has less space to develop its reasoning and examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The response has a clear overall progression: it introduces your position, gives two reasons, acknowledges a difficulty and ends with practical measures. Paragraphing is appropriate, and signposts such as “Firstly,” “Secondly,” and “However” make the stages easy to follow. Within paragraphs, ideas generally move logically from claim to explanation and example. To strengthen cohesion further, make the relationship between the gradual approach in the introduction and the final recommendations more explicit; at present, the conclusion is implied rather than clearly stated. Some linking phrases, including “In addition” and “therefore,” are predictable, so vary how you connect cause, consequence and contrast. Overall, organisation is clear, though the progression could be more fully integrated.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of topic vocabulary, including “life expectancy,” “second-hand smoke,” “nicotine,” and “illegal cigarette markets.” These terms help communicate the argument clearly, and the meaning remains accessible throughout. However, much of the wording is general or repeated, such as “serious health problems,” “harmful,” and “health issues.” There are also spelling and word-choice slips: “nserious” appears in the opening, and “programmes” is more naturally paired with “smoking-cessation” or “quit-smoking” in this context. Aim for more precise collocations and varied ways to describe health consequences and policy measures. This would make the vocabulary more flexible without sacrificing clarity.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, and several sentences are controlled well, such as “Second-hand smoke can also be harmful to family members, children and other people nearby.” Conditional structures and subordinate clauses add some variety. There are some errors in sentence conventions and verb forms: the opening sentences begin with lowercase “smoking,” “it” and “therefore,” and “If smoking was banned” would be more formally accurate as “If smoking were banned.” The response is generally easy to understand, and these issues rarely interfere with meaning. To improve, check sentence-initial capitalisation and practise accurate hypothetical conditionals, while continuing to use varied sentence structures.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.