Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-10-18

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 a serious social and health issue which cause many harmful diseases.it is the leading cause of Lung Cancer because it contains many carcinogens. it is also dangerous for others who do not smoke but exposed to a passive smoking in public places.

Some people think that smoking should be banned and considered as an illegal act but i don't think so because it is an addiction some people can not stop smoking even if they want to, they can't do their work properly without smoking they lose their focus in daily life.

In my opinion, it should be prohibited in public places and never allow anyone to harm others life.Advertisement of smoking products should be made illegal which attracts the youth. Public awareness seminars shoud be conducted to educate new generation about the harmful effects of smoking.

Government should impose additional taxes on ciggerates and take strict action against thoes who sell ciggerates to underage boys.

Smokers are more prone to the diseases like, Emphysema,Tuberculosis and Bronchitis. it decreases oxygen saturation in the body and also related to many cardiac disease which leads to breathlessness and Heart Attack which effects the smokers normal lives.

Parent should keep an eye on their childrens to protect them from this bad habit.

It effects one life and also others when someone smoke a ciggerate near someone who donot smoke the other person is also in danger because he's breathing in this environment and in same danger as a person who actually smoking a ciggerate.

In conclusion, is should not be banned overall but prohibited on public places and giver awareness to people about the harmfull effects of smoking.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear: you oppose making smoking illegal overall, while supporting restrictions in public places and measures such as limiting advertising and taxing cigarettes. You also give relevant reasons, including addiction, passive smoking, and health risks, so the response addresses the main question. However, some points are asserted rather than explained. For example, the claim that smokers cannot work properly without smoking needs clarification, and the list of illnesses would be stronger if linked to a specific explanation or example. The conclusion restates your position, but “give awareness” is not developed as a practical proposal. To strengthen the response, explain the balance between personal freedom and protecting others, and extend your main reasons with clearer supporting detail.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has an identifiable overall shape: it introduces the issue, presents your view, gives supporting points, and ends with a conclusion. The ideas are generally relevant, but progression between them is not consistently clear. The discussion moves from addiction to public restrictions, taxation, diseases, parenting, and passive smoking without grouping related points into focused paragraphs. Several sentences also repeat the danger to non-smokers, particularly the points about passive smoking in the opening and near the end. Use separate paragraphs for your position and policy suggestions, health effects, and conclusion. Clearer links such as “In addition,” or “More importantly,” can help show how each point develops, but avoid relying on connectors instead of logical organisation.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “carcinogens,” “passive smoking,” “prohibited,” “underage,” and names of illnesses. This gives you enough language to discuss the issue, and the meaning is usually understandable. However, spelling and word-choice errors are noticeable, including “ciggerates,” “thoes,” “harmfull,” and “effects” where “affects” is intended. Some expressions are also unnatural or imprecise, such as “a passive smoking,” “harm others life,” and “additional taxes on cigarettes.” Aim for accurate collocations and check spelling carefully. More precise phrases such as “second-hand smoke,” “protect other people’s health,” and “raise taxes on tobacco products” would make the argument clearer and more natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple statements and longer sentences with reasons, for example, “Smokers are more prone to the diseases like…” and the sentence beginning “It effects one life and also others…”. This shows some effort to vary sentence structure, but control is inconsistent. Subject–verb agreement is incorrect in “which cause many harmful diseases,” and sentence boundaries are often missing, as in “diseases.it is” and “public places and never allow.” Articles and plurals also need attention, as in “the smokers normal lives” and “Parent should keep an eye on their childrens.” These errors sometimes make the reader work to follow the meaning. Practise accurate sentence boundaries and check agreement, articles, and plural forms when editing.

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