Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-13

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The diagram below shows the process for recycling plastic bottles.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

How plastic bottles are recycled

Student answer (Band 6.5)

The illustration above depicts how plastic bottles are recycled and resused instead of ending up in landfills.

Overall, there are various steps involved in upgrading waste plastic bottles to reusable products instead of them sitting and harming

the envivonment without being decomposed for a lifetime .

The process begins with waste collectors accumulating discarded plastic containers and sending it to factories who can sort these bottles by color, type and size. The next step

involves these sorted bottles to be compressed and shaped into blocks. These blocks are then crushed by a grinder machine into small pieces to be cleaned in water from impurities.

These penultimate task involves these small grindings to be put in a pelletising machine which is the final form of this plastic polymer raw material. These pellets are then packed in woven bags and ready to be used in converting this polymer into distinctive products like t-shirts, new plastic bottles or plastic packaging products.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The student successfully covers all parts of the diagram illustrating the recycling process of plastic bottles. The overview is clearly stated at the beginning, noting the transformation from waste to reusable products, and key stages—such as sorting, compressing, crushing, cleaning, pelletising, and manufacturing—are accurately reported. Main features are well selected and logically summarized without irrelevant details, fulfilling the requirements for Band 7.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The response is logically organized with a clear progression from the introduction through the sequential steps of the recycling process. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different stages of the process. Cohesive devices such as 'The process begins with', 'The next step involves', and 'These pellets are then' are employed effectively to guide the reader through the text, although referencing is slightly clunky in places (e.g., 'These penultimate task'). Overall, organization and cohesion are well managed.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary appropriate for an academic process description, incorporating terms like 'accumulating', 'compressed', 'impurities', 'penultimate', and 'polymer'. However, there are some minor lexical and spelling inaccuracies, such as 'resused' instead of 'reused' and 'envivonment' instead of 'environment'. Despite these occasional slips, the vocabulary used is adequate to convey the meaning clearly, fitting the Band 6 profile.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as participial phrases and relative clauses. There are, however, some grammatical inaccuracies and awkward phrasing, for instance, 'involves these sorted bottles to be compressed' (instead of 'involves compressing these sorted bottles') and 'sending it to factories who can sort' (pronoun agreement error). Punctuation is generally acceptable, but minor grammatical errors occasionally disrupt the flow, placing this performance at a Band 6 level.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.