Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-10-14

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)

Nowadays,drugs become more common in new generation,adults are addicted to drugs and other medications which are not good for both physical and mental health. I strongly believe that smoking and usage of other drugs are dangerous for health and should be banned in our country.

Furthermore,smoking is injurious to health and it is major cause of cancer.Firstly ,people diagnosed with throat infections and later on it became the reason of cancer which leads to death.

In addition,it can cause very serious diseases like lungs cancer,heart disease and other major respiratory problems.It damages the lungs and other major organs.

Moreover,second-hand smoke can harm children and non-smokers because children are very sensitive and not tolerate the chemicals that used in cigarettes so it can be life threatening for children.Although,passive smoking is more dangerous than active smoking so it effects more severely on the non smokers.

Another major drawback of smoking is that habitual smoking keeps people away from their work because a person who is addicted to nicotine can not focused on their goals. Eventually,due to lack of concentration people faces failure.

To overcome these challenges,government should take strict actions against smoking and other harmful,unhealthy and dangerous practices.As well,smoking should be restricted in public areas.Secondly higher taxes can discourage people from buying cigarettes,awareness campaign and support to quit smoking can be helpful.Government should start compaigns on social media platforms.However,making smoking completely illegal encourages many illegal activities.

To sum up,smoking is very harmful for smokers and others,so government should take some responsibilities regarding smoking and take some legal actions against these activities.Any how,strict restrictions are better than complete ban.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

Your position is clear: you consider smoking harmful and support strong restrictions, while concluding that a complete ban is not the best approach. You address health effects, passive smoking, and possible government measures, so the response covers the main task. The discussion of cancer and harm to children is relevant, but some claims are asserted rather than explained—for example, the progression from throat infections to cancer—and the point about nicotine affecting work and concentration is less directly connected to whether smoking should be illegal. Your final distinction between restrictions and a total ban is useful, but it would be stronger if you explained why prohibition could encourage illegal activity and weighed this against the health benefits. More developed support would make the argument more convincing.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, several paragraphs presenting harms, a paragraph on possible measures, and a conclusion. Sequencing words such as “Furthermore,” “In addition,” and “Moreover” help signal the development of points. However, these transitions are used somewhat mechanically, and several health effects are placed in a list rather than organised into a clear progression. The paragraph beginning “To overcome these challenges” combines restrictions, taxation, awareness campaigns, and the concern about illegal activity, so the relationship between these ideas is not always clear. Some references, such as “these activities,” are also broad. Grouping related arguments and using clearer links to show contrast—especially between regulation and prohibition—would improve the flow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “second-hand smoke,” “passive smoking,” “nicotine,” “respiratory problems,” and “awareness campaign.” This gives you enough language to discuss the issue, but the range is limited by repetition of “smoking,” “harmful,” and “dangerous,” and some combinations are unnatural or imprecise. For example, “lungs cancer” would be more naturally expressed as “lung cancer,” while “take some responsibilities regarding smoking” does not clearly convey the intended government action. There are also spelling errors such as “compaigns,” and “effects” is confused with “affects.” Aim for more precise collocations and check spelling and word forms; this will make your argument clearer and more fluent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including a reason clause in “because children are very sensitive” and a concession beginning “Although.” However, control is uneven, and errors sometimes make sentences difficult to follow. Examples include “adults are addicted to drugs” after a broad opening statement, “it became the reason of cancer,” and “a person who is addicted to nicotine can not focused,” where verb forms and sentence construction need attention. Agreement is also inconsistent in “people faces failure,” and punctuation and spacing around commas are frequently inaccurate. Practise building accurate sentences with subject–verb agreement and complete verb phrases, then proofread punctuation. Greater accuracy in these patterns would allow your range of sentence structures to support your ideas more effectively.

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.