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)

Smoking should be illegal is a controversial issue today. While some people agree that smoking must be illegal because it is harmful for health, others believe that it is thier choice.

From my prespective somking should be band and illegal because of its drawbacks in the smoker and the evironmement.

Those who support smoking argue that somking is not that bad for health and it doesnt cause problems to the nature neither because it reduce stress only and people who smoke are healthy as people who doesnt. In addition, somking shouldnt be illegal because it doesnt make u out of mind like for isntance wine, this leads to letting them smoke. I strongly disagree with that.

To begin, making smoking illegal can be very positive for the health of people who smoke and who doesnt, because the smoke of the cigarettes effect the smoker health and also the person who smell it too, for instance if the non smoker person is in fromt of the smoker while he is doing it this may effect his health as well because of the toxic chemicals in mixture pf cigarettes, this leads to cancer and so many other diseases. Moreover, somking is very harmfull for the skin too it reduces vitamines and blood flow which can make the smoker looks pale and sick all time. On the other hand, the industry of tabacoo has a long lasting damage on nature and ecosystem, because it make the air polluted and it also leads to deforestation.

In conclusion, I firmly agree that smoking should be illegal because of its negative effects on individuals health and the damage caused to nature and air. Although some people think that it reduce stress only and its not harmful, i see that the smoking has so many drawbacks without any benifits for society and nature in general.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

Your position is clear: you firmly agree that smoking should be illegal, and you address health effects on smokers and non-smokers as well as environmental damage. The example of second-hand smoke and the mention of cancer give relevant support, while the conclusion restates your view. This meets the task well, and the response shows some of the stronger development expected at the next level. However, several claims are asserted rather than explained: for example, the point that smoking harms skin and reduces blood flow is not developed, and the environmental effects are only briefly named. The opposing view is also presented in broad terms, such as the claim that smoking reduces stress, without examining it. Explain and support these points more fully to make the argument consistently convincing.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, a paragraph presenting the opposing view, a paragraph supporting your position, and a conclusion. Linking expressions such as “To begin,” “Moreover,” and “In conclusion” help signal the stages of the argument. Overall, the ideas can be followed, but cohesion is sometimes mechanical or unclear. The first body paragraph combines several claims about health, stress, and alcohol in a long sentence, making the relationship between them difficult to track. In the next paragraph, “On the other hand” introduces environmental damage, although this point continues your argument rather than contrasting with it. Use shorter, more focused paragraphs or sentences, and choose linking phrases that accurately show whether an idea adds, contrasts, or gives an example.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use vocabulary relevant to the topic, including “toxic chemicals,” “cancer,” “deforestation,” and “ecosystem,” so the reader can understand the main argument. However, the range is limited and several noticeable spelling and word-choice errors reduce precision, including “somking,” “evironmement,” “harmfull,” and “tabacoo.” Some phrases are also unnatural or imprecise, such as “the person who smell it” and “the industry of tabacoo has a long lasting damage.” Repeated use of “smoking,” “health,” and “harmful” also limits variety. Build a more accurate set of topic-specific expressions and check spelling carefully; use precise collocations such as “tobacco industry,” “second-hand smoke,” and “damage to the environment.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including clauses with “because,” “while,” and “which,” and the overall meaning is generally recoverable. However, complex sentences are often faulty or overloaded, as in “Those who support smoking argue that somking is not that bad for health and it doesnt cause problems to the nature neither because it reduce stress only.” There are recurring problems with agreement and verb forms (“it reduce,” “people who doesnt”), articles and sentence construction (“the smoker looks pale”), and punctuation, particularly in long sentences joined without clear boundaries. These errors sometimes make the reader work to identify the intended relationships. Practise building one main idea per sentence, then add subordinate clauses accurately; check subject–verb agreement, articles, and sentence boundaries during revision.

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