Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

As a non smoker, and a very informed person on the risks and the damage that smoking causes to oneself and to those surrounding, I still partially disagree on this statement. The reason why is that I believe in complete freedom of choice of the population, so smoking per se shouldn't be illegal. In my opinion what should be limited is the places in which a smoker can do so, that being far away from children and vulnerable people that shouldn't be hurt by another man's decisions. Smoking should be limited to smoking areas with proper smoke filters for the outside and far away from schools and hospitals. Both my grandparents were smokers, and they used to tell me that back then, during the 60's and the 70's, the real grasp of the dangers that smoking could cause wasn't clear, because of that people used to smoke everywhere: in their cars with their kid, at the restaurant, hospitals and so on and so forth. Nowadays those dangers are known to mankind, so i think that the vast majority of smokers knows about them but that simply doesn't stop them from doing so. The habit is caused by other factors such as stress or introduction to the substance by a young age by their friends, or seeing their parents doing that. Concluding, as written earlier, I strongly believe in freedom of choice, but not when a man's actions can threaten or hurt another, so I do believe that smoking should be made illegal in public but it should be completely legal in regulated areas.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

Your position is clear throughout: you oppose making smoking illegal altogether, while supporting restrictions that protect other people. You address the central issue and support your view with relevant examples, including your grandparents’ experience and the changing awareness of smoking’s risks. The distinction between personal choice and harm to others gives the response a clear line of argument. However, some supporting points are asserted rather than fully explained. For example, stress, peer influence and parental modelling are listed as causes of smoking, but their relevance to whether smoking should be legal is not made explicit. Develop this link and explain more precisely how regulated areas would protect the public while preserving individual choice.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response follows a generally coherent progression: it states your position, proposes restrictions, gives a family example, and returns to your conclusion. Linking expressions such as “In my opinion,” “because of that,” and “Concluding” help signal the stages of the argument. However, the ideas are presented as one continuous paragraph, so the shift from your proposed policy to the historical example and then to the causes of smoking is not clearly marked. Some connections also feel mechanical, particularly the repeated use of “so” and the long sentence beginning “The habit is caused by other factors.” Use separate paragraphs for the position, supporting explanation and conclusion, and make the relationship between each example and your argument more explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

You use an adequate range to discuss the topic, including relevant terms such as “vulnerable people,” “smoking areas,” “regulated areas,” and “freedom of choice.” These choices make your position understandable, and phrases such as “the dangers are known” show an attempt to express the issue beyond basic vocabulary. Some wording is imprecise or unnatural, however: “the real grasp of the dangers” is not a natural collocation, and “introduced to the substance by a young age” is awkward. “Another man’s decisions” is also less suitable than a neutral expression such as “another person’s choices.” Aim for more precise collocations and avoid conversational fillers such as “and so on and so forth” to make the argument sound more formal.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex structures, including the contrast in “I still partially disagree” and the clause explaining that smoking should not harm others. Meaning remains clear overall, but some sentence structures and punctuation need more control. The opening sentence is a fragment-like introductory construction (“As a non smoker, and a very informed person…”), while the sentence beginning “Both my grandparents were smokers” runs through several examples without clear punctuation. There are also errors in capitalization, such as “i,” and in the construction “by a young age.” Break up long sentences, check sentence boundaries and capitalization, and revise complex clauses so their grammatical relationships are clear.

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