Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-10-22

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)

Nowadays, many people smoke excessively, which is a very serious concern. Many people argued that, smoking can cause serious illness and some f they says that it would be illegal so nobody will smoke.

To begin with, smoking is very dangerous habit which can cause death if it is done in highly range. It causes serious illnesses such as lung cancer and heart disease. It damages smokers lungs and reduces life expectancy. By smoking expenses will increase as well as health expenses too, it can be bad addiction which can affects people's quality of life. The main reason of smoking is having problems of respiratory system and it can pollute air. It can be the habit which can be nnever quit. Second-hand smoke can harm non smoker particularly children and elderly people in increasing thier risk of respiratory diseases. For instance, if 45 old man is smoking 5 Cigarette a day than he might have a serious problem and many of them will be influced by seeing him.

On the other hand, if smoking would be illegal then it can protects public health and reduce preventable deaths. Ban on smoking can reduce healthcare expenses for individuals and governments.Mostly, governments can spend less money treating smoking-related illness. Also, authorities should take strict actions for smokers as well as for sellers, so it will create a good impact in country. It will also maintain cleaniness on roads. For example, banning the sale of tobacco and cigarettes can reduce problems.

To conclude, I fully agree with this so many youngsters will have their bright future.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear: you fully agree that smoking should be illegal, and you address both the health harms and possible benefits of a ban. Relevant points include lung cancer, heart disease, second-hand smoke, healthcare costs and protecting young people. However, some ideas are less fully explained than others. For example, the claim that a ban would “maintain cleanliness on roads” is introduced but not developed, and the example about a 45-year-old smoking five cigarettes a day does not clearly demonstrate the wider effects you describe. Explain how each example supports your argument, and develop the practical case for prohibition, such as how a ban could be enforced or why it would be more effective than regulation.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph on the harms of smoking, a paragraph supporting prohibition, and a conclusion. Sequencing phrases such as “To begin with,” “On the other hand,” and “To conclude” help signal the stages of your argument. However, some links are mechanical or do not express the relationship accurately: “On the other hand” suggests a contrast, although the next paragraph continues in support of your position. Several ideas are also crowded together, particularly in the first body paragraph, where health effects, costs, addiction and pollution appear without clear transitions. Group related points and use more precise links and references so readers can follow how each reason develops.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “lung cancer,” “heart disease,” “life expectancy,” “second-hand smoke” and “healthcare expenses,” which makes the subject clear. However, the range is limited in places, and noticeable word-choice, collocation and spelling problems sometimes make the meaning difficult to follow. Examples include “in highly range,” “smokers lungs,” “a good impact in country,” and “cleaniness”; “nnever” and “thier” also show spelling slips. Aim for accurate, natural combinations rather than repeating general words such as “serious” and “problems.” Learning phrases such as “smoking-related diseases” and “reduce the burden on healthcare services” would help you express your ideas more precisely.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more developed sentence forms, including a relative clause in “a habit which can…” and a conditional example beginning “if.” The main ideas are generally understandable, but errors in sentence construction, agreement, articles and punctuation recur. For instance, “it can protects” should be “it can protect,” while “smoking is very dangerous habit” needs an article: “smoking is a very dangerous habit.” The opening sentence after the introduction also has an unclear structure, and the comma after “argued that” is unnecessary. Practise building accurate sentences with one main idea at a time, then check verb forms after modal verbs, subject–verb agreement and sentence boundaries.

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.