Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-11-03

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 6.0)

In my opinion, smoking has very bad habit, and it should be banned by all of the world . I strongly agree with this statement because smoking not only affects the health of smokers but also harms the people around them.

Firstly, smoking can cause serious diseases such as lung cancer, heart diseases and breathing problems. People who smoke regularly may damage their health over time. Moreover, second-hand smoke is also dangerous, especially for children and elderly people.

Secondly, smoking has negative effects on families and society. People waste a lot of money buying cigarettes, which could be spent on education, food and other important needs. In Pakistan, many people also suffer from different health problems because of smoking.

However, I believe that simply banning cigarettes may not be enough. Some people might still buy them illegally. Therefore, the government should introduce strict laws, create public awareness and organise educational campaigns to discourage smoking, especially among young people.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

Your position is clear: you strongly agree that smoking should be banned, and you give relevant reasons involving illness, second-hand smoke, family finances and society. The examples of children and older people being especially vulnerable, and money being diverted from essentials, help address the topic. However, the response addresses the task only partially because these points are mostly asserted rather than explained or supported with specific examples. The final paragraph also shifts from making smoking illegal to proposing awareness campaigns, without clarifying how these measures relate to a ban. The response is below the required 250 words, which limits the opportunity to develop your reasoning. Explain the likely effects of a ban and support each main point with a concrete example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a coherent overall arrangement: an introduction states your view, two paragraphs present reasons, and a final paragraph considers enforcement and prevention. Sequencing phrases such as “Firstly,” “Moreover,” “Secondly,” and “However” make the progression easy to follow. This organisation is a strength, and the reader can understand how the points relate to your position. To make the cohesion more flexible and precise, develop clearer links between claims and explanations rather than relying mainly on paragraph-opening transitions. For example, explain how spending on cigarettes affects household needs, then connect that point to the wider social impact. The final paragraph could also link its proposals explicitly to the problem of illegal sales and to your argument for prohibition.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use an adequate range of topic vocabulary, including “serious diseases,” “second-hand smoke,” “public awareness,” and “educational campaigns.” These expressions communicate the main ideas clearly, and the vocabulary is generally appropriate to the subject. However, some word choices and collocations are inaccurate or too general, such as “smoking has very bad habit” and “banned by all of the world.” “Different health problems” also gives little specific information. Aim for more natural phrasing and greater precision, particularly when stating your position and describing health effects. You could use expressions such as “smoking is a harmful habit,” “banned worldwide,” and “smoking-related illnesses.” More precise vocabulary would help you explain your ideas without changing their meaning.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and more complex sentence forms, and several sentences are controlled, such as “People waste a lot of money buying cigarettes, which could be spent on education, food and other important needs.” The conditional construction “Some people might still buy them illegally” is also effective. Some grammatical errors remain, but they rarely prevent understanding. For example, the opening sentence needs an article and a more suitable structure: “Smoking is a very bad habit.” There is also an unnecessary space before the full stop in “world .” Continue practising articles and sentence punctuation, and try adding a wider range of subordinate clauses to explain causes and consequences. Careful proofreading would help make the otherwise clear sentences more accurate.

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