Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-16

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 5.0)

The pie chart illustrate the recycling process of plastic bottles into many steps. Overall, this system has different types of recycle the bottle into mulitple steps, such as waste are collected,second one is Sorting and crusing the plastric and the final product is formed after this process is completed.

The first footstep is to collect the waste of plastic, loaded into the truck to went into sorting procedure then it can be compressed into long length of packs. Packs of bottles is going through the Crushing system and washing it with the certain chemical. This material is put into producing pellets where they transformed into good and beneficial raw product.

Raw material is now converted into usedful substance such as pencils are made from it. Clothes, differents kind of lunch boxes are made and other important material are produced from it. The recycling system is good dranined the unusedful material so it can be change into another form.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The student attempts to describe the process of recycling plastic bottles shown in the diagram. However, there are significant inaccuracies in identifying the visual data, such as misidentifying the diagram as a 'pie chart' and missing several core sequential steps of the multi-stage loop. The overview is overly simplistic and fails to capture the main features of the closed-loop cycle. Furthermore, the description of the final stages includes vague and partially inaccurate interpretations of the end products. Because parts of the process are missed or poorly developed, the response only partially addresses the task requirements, aligning with a Band 5.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay is divided into three short paragraphs, but the logical progression is weak. The introduction incorrectly labels the diagram, and the transitions between sentences feel disjointed. Cohesive devices are used awkwardly or inaccurately, such as 'second one is Sorting and crusing the plastric' and 'The first footstep is to collect... to went into sorting procedure then it can be compressed'. Paragraphing is basic and does not effectively structure the stages of the process. Overall cohesion is mechanical and faulty, which places this aspect at a Band 5.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is narrow and repetitive, containing numerous spelling and word-choice errors, such as 'crusing' for crushing, 'mulitple' and 'mulitple' variants, 'dranined' for drained, and 'usedful' for useful. Less common lexical items are attempted but used incorrectly (e.g., 'good dranined the unusedful material'). The lexical range is minimally adequate to convey a basic topic, but frequent errors in word formation and collocation constrain the score to a Band 5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0

The text displays a very limited range of grammatical structures. Simple sentences dominate, and attempts at complex structures frequently result in serious errors, such as 'waste are collected,second one is Sorting and crusing the plastric' and 'loaded into the truck to went into sorting procedure then it can be compressed'. There are frequent errors in verb tense, subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'Packs of bottles is going'), and prepositional usage. These persistent errors cause frequent strain and difficulty for the reader, fitting the Band 4 descriptors.

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