Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-11-04

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)

Ban on smoking has been a long standing debate for a long time now. No doubt that smoking is injurious to health and has many associated diseases. I completely agree with the notion that smoking should be made illegal.

Generally speaking, smoking has many health problems linked to it ranging from cancer to asthama. Looking at the health problems, the first thing that comes to mind is oral cancer as is also mentioned on the cigarette packets. This can lead to disfuguring of the lips and eventually the complete face. It's not just oral cancer that arises due to smoking, another common cancer type is lung cancer. Smoking slowly affects the lungs making it difficult to breathe for the smokers day by day and eventually leads to asthama follwed by a total lung failure. Likewise, there are countless other illnesses attached to smoking. Apart from the health risks linked to smoking, there is also a financial burden on the low class population who have become addicted to smoking. Rather than spending their precious money on usefult items, they are forced by their addiction to spend it on smoking, adding an additional expese on their pockets.

It is for these reasons that smoking should be banned at all levels to protect the health of the people and encourage a healthy lifestyle among them. Although, much is being done today to raise awareness on the negative effects of smoking across all platforms, but they still remain accessible to people. Having a ban on smoking is essential to drastically reduce the negative health effects of smoking.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear from the introduction: “I completely agree” that smoking should be illegal, and the conclusion returns to the need for a ban. You give relevant reasons, including serious illnesses and the financial pressure on people with addiction. However, the health discussion is much more developed than the financial point, which is asserted rather than illustrated or explained in depth. Some medical claims, such as smoking leading to asthma and then total lung failure, would benefit from greater precision and support. To strengthen the response, explain how a legal ban could reduce smoking and address a likely counterargument, such as personal choice or enforcement. This would develop the argument more fully across all parts of the question.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction states your view, the main paragraph presents reasons, and the final paragraph restates your position. Linking expressions such as “Apart from,” “Likewise,” and “It is for these reasons” help readers follow the argument. However, the main paragraph contains several different points—oral cancer, lung cancer, other illnesses, and financial burden—without enough separation or development, so the progression can feel list-like. The final paragraph also uses “Although” and “but” together, making the relationship between the ideas awkward. Consider giving health effects and financial consequences separate paragraphs, and use clearer transitions to show how each reason supports the proposed ban.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of topic vocabulary, including “oral cancer,” “financial burden,” “addicted,” and “negative effects,” which makes the subject clear. There are also attempts at more formal phrasing, such as “the notion” and “drastically reduce.” However, several spelling errors and imprecise or unnatural combinations weaken control: “asthama,” “disfuguring,” “usefult,” and “additional expese” are inaccurate, while “many health problems linked to it” is vague. “At all levels” is also unclear in this context. Proofread carefully and choose precise collocations, for example, “smoking-related illnesses” and “household finances.” This would make your vocabulary more accurate and natural while retaining the relevant range already shown.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including the conditional-style explanation “Rather than spending their precious money…, they are forced…” and the contrast introduced by “Although.” Most of the meaning remains understandable, but some grammatical and punctuation problems occur. For example, “No doubt that smoking…” is missing a suitable construction such as “There is no doubt that…,” and “Although, much is being done…, but…” incorrectly combines two contrasting structures. The sentence beginning “Smoking slowly affects the lungs” also becomes difficult to follow as several effects are joined together. Aim to control clause boundaries and punctuation, and check sentence patterns when using linking words. More consistently accurate complex sentences would improve clarity.

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