Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-10-12

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)

There is an opinion that smoking can cause serious illnesses and should be made illegal. I completely accord with this notion beacuse it harms public health as lead to respiratory and heart diseases and create problems for society and environment.

To begin with, there are several benefits of banning on smoking. First, illegal smoking can helps improve public health. Smoking caontain harmful substances which can lead to various health problems such as lung cancer, heart diseases and breathing problems. Furthermore, hand smoke harms non smokers especially childern and older people. A ban quit people from smoking and prevent youngers from addicted. For instance, childern may exposed to ciggrette smoke may cause respiratory problems. Consequently, banning on smoking may help to improve public health.

In addition, if government ban on smoking it also benefits for society and environement. Most of people become poor and unemployemnt under bad habit of smoking, thus smoking prohibition is essenitail for improve the standard of society. As well as when smoke level reduce , it may provide clean and fresh air for breathing.Moreover, banning smoking could reduce the financial burden. The government spend a lots of money on treating smoking related problems. Thus, complete ban could reduce healthcare expenditure in long term.

In conclusion, despite of smoking seriously affect individuals and society, I strongly believe that the government should prohibit smoking because it helps in reduce financial burden and improve public health by providing fresh air and healthy environment.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear from the opening: “I completely accord with this notion,” and the conclusion again supports prohibition. You address health effects, harm to non-smokers, social consequences, and healthcare costs, so the response is relevant to the question. However, some points are less fully explained: for example, the claim that smoking makes people “poor and unemployemnt” is unclear and needs a logical explanation or evidence. The example about children is relevant but could be developed further. The response contains 233 words, so it is 17 words below the 250-word minimum; the 10 words copied from the task prompt are not counted. Add development to your supporting points rather than simply repeating them.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, two body paragraphs presenting reasons, and a conclusion. Sequencing phrases such as “To begin with,” “In addition,” and “In conclusion” help the reader follow the main stages. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical because several sentences rely on “Furthermore,” “Moreover,” and “Thus” without showing the precise relationship between ideas. Some links are also unclear: “Most of people become poor and unemployemnt under bad habit of smoking” does not make the connection between smoking and the claimed social outcome easy to follow. Improve progression by explaining each claim before moving to the next, and use pronouns or linking phrases with clear references. Paragraphing is appropriate, but the second body paragraph would benefit from a more logical sequence.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “respiratory,” “lung cancer,” “financial burden,” and “healthcare expenditure,” which helps communicate the main arguments. However, the range is limited and several noticeable spelling, word-form, and collocation errors reduce precision. Examples include “hand smoke” for “second-hand smoke,” “banning on smoking,” “youngers,” and “smoke level reduce.” The phrase “poor and unemployemnt” is especially difficult to interpret. These issues fit a response with a minimally adequate vocabulary range, but they sometimes make the reader work to understand your meaning. Build a bank of accurate topic collocations and check spelling and word forms carefully; aim for precise phrases rather than repeating “smoking” and “ban.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a reason clause in “because it harms public health” and a conditional structure beginning “if government ban on smoking.” This shows some variety, and the overall meaning is usually recoverable. However, grammatical control is inconsistent, with errors in agreement, verb forms, articles, and sentence construction. For example, “illegal smoking can helps” should use the base verb after “can,” while “the government spend” needs subject–verb agreement. The sentence “A ban quit people from smoking and prevent youngers from addicted” also has several faulty grammatical patterns. Practise forming accurate clauses and checking each sentence’s subject and verb, especially in longer sentences. More reliable control would make your arguments clearer.

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