Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-10-13

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)

It is often argued that smoking cause a serious illness and should be banned as an illegal product. In my opnion, I agree with this view because smoking has several issues that poses a great threat to health.

Having smoking in daily basis can cause danger to the health as well as put a strain to one's family. For example, if someone do smoking regularly, his heart will not be in good condition. In the long run, this habit can cause a disease called cancer, which may put victims family in a bad position. His family may come under a financial crisis to treat his illness, which is not a beneficial for their future. Another important factor is that when a chain smoker do not have their cigerrete in a daily basis, this can put them in a mental strain. As a result, sometimes they may behave discourteous, which is not actually good for society and also their family. Therefore, this habit can cause several ruckus in our society, which may depicts negative effects to the society, particularly to the children.

To address this issue, governments must take necessary steps to alleviate this condition. Firstly, they may provide free counseiling to every citizens and with the help of social media, they can propegate detrimental side of smoking to the concern citizens. Secondly, state can impose a huge amount of tariff on cigerrete production as well as put ban on any kind of cigerrete import. Thirdly, parents should be more concern about their childrens, they must oversight on their childrens, and keep track of their daily activities.

In conclusion, smoking is a bad habit which we should discourage as a negative threat to our society. If banning this product can bring fortune to our society, i believe it should be declared as an illegal product.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear: you agree that smoking should be illegal, and you give relevant reasons involving health, family finances and effects on society. You also suggest responses, including counselling, public awareness and restrictions on cigarette production and imports. This addresses the task, but some points are not fully developed or directly tied to the question of making smoking illegal. For example, the discussion of smokers becoming discourteous is asserted rather than supported, and parental supervision is not clearly connected to a legal ban. To strengthen the response, explain why prohibition would be more effective than regulation or education, and develop one or two examples with clearer cause-and-effect reasoning.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, a paragraph explaining harms, a paragraph proposing action and a conclusion. Sequencing words such as “For example,” “As a result,” and “Firstly” help readers follow the main points. However, some connections are mechanical, and the second body paragraph shifts from government action to parental supervision without explaining how these ideas relate. References such as “this habit” and “this condition” are sometimes broad, making it less clear which specific effect or problem is meant. Group related arguments more tightly, use transitions that show the relationship between ideas, and ensure each paragraph develops a clear central point.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You attempt topic-related vocabulary, including “financial crisis,” “mental strain,” “detrimental,” and “impose,” which helps communicate a range of ideas. However, several noticeable word-choice, collocation and spelling problems reduce precision: “smoking cause a serious illness,” “put a strain to one's family,” “several ruckus,” and “negative threat” are not natural expressions. There are also misspellings such as “cigerrete,” “counseiling,” and “propegate.” These errors do not prevent the overall message from being understood, but they make parts of the argument less clear and polished. Focus on accurate collocations and check spelling, especially for repeated topic vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use both simple statements and longer sentences with clauses, for example, “In the long run, this habit can cause a disease called cancer, which may put victims family in a bad position.” This shows an attempt to vary sentence structure, and the overall meaning is generally understandable. Some grammatical errors remain, particularly with subject–verb agreement, articles, plurals and sentence patterns: “smoking cause,” “someone do smoking,” and “a huge amount of tariff” illustrate these issues. Possessive forms and pronoun agreement also need attention in “victims family” and “their childrens.” Review agreement and noun forms, and proofread longer sentences to ensure each clause is grammatically complete and clearly connected.

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.