IELTS Writing Task 2 essay with model answer

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Write about the following topic

Smoking is a major cause of illness and death throughout the world today. In the interest of public health, governments should ban cigarettes and other tobacco products. Do you agree or disagree?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

Model Answer:

Millions of people around the world have enjoyed smoking as an avenue for seeking relaxation and pleasure. However, smoking often triggers a wide array of illnesses or even death.  It has been argued that in order to promote public health, government should totally disallow cigarettes and other tobacco products. I completely agree with this view.

Firstly, smoking is detrimental to physical and mental health. Apart from inducing short-term relaxation benefits, smoking causes many negative consequences. Smokers tend to get sick more easily than non-smokers. Based on this conjecture, governments would incur a large amount of expenses for subsidising the failing health of smokers. With a ban in place, the general population will get healthier and more productive at work.

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Secondly, although I can understand why some people oppose the total ban of cigarettes, I do not find those reasons satisfying. For instance, some may argue that the decision to smoke is a form of human right. People should have the free-will to choose whether they want to smoke or not. I find this view very selfish since the health of many non-smokers are affected when they breath in the fumes of nicotine unintentionally. Furthermore, from the monetary viewpoint, some would argue that government could lose tax revenue from the sales of smoking related products. Again, this is myopic since government could actually saves money in the long-term due to lesser expenditure for healthcare subsidies.

In my opinion, the benefits of banning smoking outweigh the costs. For this reason, government should consider the necessary laws to bring this into effects.

Total Words: 261

Task Achievement: 8

Coherence & Cohesion: 8

Lexical resources: 8

Grammar: 8

Overall Score: Band 8

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