Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

Smoking leads to serious diseases and should be made illegal,being a major threat to public health.Smoking is widely recognized as the cause of serious health problems.I strongly support strict restrictions on the usage of tobacco,at the same time i also disagree by making smoking completely illegal.

Firstly,smoking poses as a significant threat to both individual as well as the public health,tobacco consumption increases the risk of diseases such as heart diseases,lung cancer and chronic respiratory diseases.The harmful effects are not only limited to smokers but also affect those around them.For example,children,especially those who live with regular smokers,may inhale the smoke despite not being engaged in the habit.Consequently,smoking contributes to health problems and place an additional burden on healthcare servicess,which clearly require strong government intervention.

However,complete prohibiton may create more difficulties rather than eliminate the problem,nicotine dependence can make quitting challenging for some individuals.Moreover if smoking gets banned,an illegal margrt could get developed,making tobacco products more difficult for the authorities to monitor.The government could introduce a set of measures,such as higher taxes on tobacco,restrictions on advertising,making public areas smoke-free and also create accessible programmes which can help individuals quit.

In conclusion,although smoking causes serious health issues and requires strict actions from the government,i do not believe a complete ban would be the solution to eliminate the issue,i believe strict regulation,public education and awareness and support for those quitting would be a more practical approach.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear: you support strong controls but oppose making smoking completely illegal. You address both the health risks and the drawbacks of prohibition, using relevant examples such as second-hand smoke affecting children and the possibility of an illegal market. However, some points are asserted rather than fully explained; for instance, the illegal-market concern would be stronger with a brief explanation of how prohibition could make enforcement harder. The proposed measures are relevant, but their likely effectiveness is not discussed. The response also contains 233 words, below the required 250, so it needs further development as well as additional length to meet the task requirements.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction states your position, two body paragraphs present the health case and the case against prohibition, and the conclusion restates your view. Sequencing words such as “Firstly,” “However,” and “In conclusion” make the main progression easy to follow. This coherent arrangement meets the expected standard, and the contrast between the two body paragraphs is clear. To make the flow more polished, avoid joining separate ideas with commas, as in the sentence beginning “However, complete prohibition…”; use a full stop or a suitable linking phrase. Some transitions are also formulaic, and clearer links between the proposed policies and their intended effects would strengthen progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of topic vocabulary, including “public health,” “nicotine dependence,” “illegal market,” and “smoke-free,” which helps communicate the argument. There are also attempts at more formal phrasing, such as “government intervention” and “healthcare services.” However, inaccurate word choice, spelling, and collocation reduce precision: “poses as a significant threat” is not the natural construction, while “usage of tobacco” and “create accessible programmes” could be expressed more idiomatically. Misspellings such as “prohibiton,” “margrt,” and “servicess” are noticeable. Aim to check spelling carefully and choose standard collocations so your otherwise relevant vocabulary sounds more controlled.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex structures, including a relative clause in “children, especially those who live with regular smokers,” and a conditional construction about what might happen if smoking were banned. The main ideas remain understandable, but some grammatical and punctuation errors recur. Several sentences are joined with commas where a full stop or conjunction is needed, including the opening sentence and the sentence beginning “However, complete prohibition.” There are also agreement and form issues, such as “smoking contributes … and place,” and inconsistent capitalisation of “I.” Improve sentence boundaries and check subject–verb agreement; these changes would make your varied sentence attempts clearer and more accurate.

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