Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-10-15

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)

Smoking is one of the major issue arising in the world. It destroys our main and important organ, known as lungs. Our lungs helps our body to breath in Oxygen and to breath out Carbondioxide. Smoking a cigeratte or any other form of smoke can injure the lungs, thus, difficulty in breathing and other serious illnesses. A cigarette contains a variety of chemicals that are very harmful for our lungs. It contains nicotine, tobbacoo and other cancer causing chemicals that alters the genes, thus, causing Mutation. It has been reserched that, a single smoke of cigeratte contains 99% of harmful chemicals.

According to different research articles, one of the serious illness a smoking can cause, is the Asthema. The sypmtom, which is, shortness of breath is quite fetal, if left untreated. There are other diseases that can arise when the lungs are not working properly. It can alter the funtions of heart, kidney and liver. The resason behind this abnormality is that each and every organ of our body is working in coordination.

Today, almost half of the population is smoking, knowing that it can cause serious damage to the lungs, because they are addictive. There should be a law against the smoking, as it not only destroys the user, but also the youth, causing a second-hand smoke diseases. Different organizations should be built to save the people from smoking and aware them from its harm. It is also important for our ecosystem. As of today, millions of people are smoking, releasing these gasses onto air may also pollute our enviroment.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You take a clear position in favour of making smoking illegal, especially when you write, “There should be a law against the smoking,” and you give relevant reasons: harm to smokers, second-hand smoke, and environmental pollution. The discussion of lung damage and other illnesses supports the topic, so the response addresses the main question. However, the argument is not fully developed: the claim that smoking should be banned is asserted rather than weighed against possible objections, such as personal choice or how a ban could be enforced. Some health claims, including the statement that one cigarette contains “99%” harmful chemicals, are unclear and need reliable, precise support. Explain and illustrate your strongest reasons more fully to make the position more convincing.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a coherent overall arrangement: it introduces the health issue, gives examples of illnesses, and then moves to the case for legal action and environmental concerns. Paragraph breaks help distinguish these stages, and linking expressions such as “thus,” “According to,” and “because” show relationships between ideas. At times, however, connections are mechanical or unclear. For example, “There are other diseases that can arise” does not specify which diseases, and the shift from organ damage to ecosystem effects in the final paragraph is abrupt. Some references, such as “It” in “It can alter the functions,” could refer to smoking, lung damage, or illness. Use clearer topic sentences and explicit links between each reason and your conclusion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “nicotine,” “second-hand smoke,” “chemicals,” and “pollute,” which helps communicate the subject. There are also attempts at more specific language, such as “working in coordination.” However, the range and control are limited by repeated general terms such as “serious,” “harmful,” and “damage,” as well as inaccurate word choices and collocations. Phrases such as “a single smoke of cigarette,” “fetal” for “fatal,” and “aware them from its harm” may confuse the reader. Spelling errors, including “cigeratte,” “tobbacoo,” and “enviroment,” are noticeable. Build a more precise vocabulary for health effects and policy, and check spelling and natural word combinations carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and more complex sentences, including cause-and-effect structures such as “Smoking a cigarette … can injure the lungs, thus…” and a relative clause beginning “which is.” The main ideas are generally understandable, but some grammatical errors recur. Subject–verb agreement is inaccurate in “Our lungs helps” and “chemicals … alters”; articles and number are also problematic in “one of the serious illness” and “a smoking.” Several sentence patterns are awkward or incomplete, particularly “thus, difficulty in breathing” and “The symptom, which is, shortness of breath.” These issues sometimes make relationships between ideas less clear. Practise accurate agreement, articles, and complete clause structures, while retaining your attempts to combine ideas.

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.