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)

Many people now days have habbit of smoking. It causes serious health issues, it should be banned in public places. I strongly agreed with this view beacuse smoking not only harm smoker but it also harm non-smoker.

Firstly, smoking cause many health issues like lungs cancer, heart problems and breathing issues.smokers are aware of the danger, but they continue to smoking due to addiction.For example, in Pakistan many men suffer from chest pain and cough beacuse of smoking. while treatment is very expensive.Moreover smoking is very dangerous for childrens and family members. To some extent, if a person smoke a ciggerate in home the other who inhaled that smoke will suffer too.

Furthermore, young generation is getting more addicted to smoking.

In pakistan, we see bars that are specificlly providing diffrent kind of ciggerates that contain flavors in the first place a youngster smoke that as an entertainment then get addicted to it. As a result of this serious cardiac arrest is getting more common in young generation.

Government should took serious action to sealed the bar and shop that are providing these. For instance, if young adults see a ban in public places, they will understand that it is not a stylish habit but a dangerous one

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You give a clear general view that smoking is harmful, supporting it with health effects, second-hand smoke, and young people’s exposure to flavoured cigarettes. These are relevant reasons, and the Pakistan examples help make the discussion more specific. However, the response only partly addresses the exact proposal: the prompt asks whether smoking should be made illegal, while your opening shifts to banning smoking in public places, and the conclusion focuses on sealing bars and shops. Clarify whether you support a complete ban or targeted restrictions, then explain why. The points about illness and youth addiction are also asserted more than developed. The response is 42 words below the required minimum, which limits the space available to explain and support your position.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an opening position, reasons introduced by “Firstly” and “Furthermore,” and a final recommendation. The ideas generally remain on the topic, and examples follow the points they are intended to support. However, progression is uneven: the first paragraph moves from illness to treatment costs and second-hand smoke, while the next shifts quickly to youth addiction and enforcement without fully connecting these points. Some linking is mechanical, and punctuation makes transitions unclear, as in “breathing issues.smokers” and “while treatment is very expensive.” Use separate, clearly focused paragraphs and connect each example explicitly to its main claim. A concluding sentence that restates your position on legality would also make the overall progression more complete.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant set of topic words, including “addiction,” “inhaled,” “flavored cigarettes,” and “cardiac arrest,” so the reader can understand the main concerns. There is some attempt to express specific ideas rather than relying entirely on general vocabulary. However, the range is limited and several spelling and word-choice errors are noticeable, such as “habbit,” “ciggerate,” “diffrent,” and “specificlly.” Some phrases are also imprecise or unnatural, including “bars that are specifically providing” and “serious cardiac arrest is getting more common.” These choices sometimes make the meaning less clear. Build accuracy by checking spelling and learning natural collocations, for example “smoking-related illnesses,” “second-hand smoke,” and “take action against retailers.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt to combine ideas using clauses such as “smoking not only harm smoker but it also harm non-smoker” and “if a person smoke a ciggerate in home,” showing an effort to use more than isolated simple sentences. However, the range remains limited, and frequent errors in agreement, verb forms, articles, and sentence boundaries make the writing difficult to read in places. For example, “smoking cause” should use a singular verb, while “Government should took” has an incorrect verb form. The opening also joins two complete ideas with a comma: “It causes serious health issues, it should be banned…” Review subject–verb agreement and past/modal verb patterns, and use full stops or conjunctions to separate clauses. More accurate complex sentences would improve clarity.

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