Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-17

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 4.0)

The process illustrate for recycling plastic bottles. It is performed in steps. Overall, it can be seen that performed in steps of process for recycling plastic bottles.

At the beginning of the period, the process of recycling plastic bottles first one person bring the bottles put into dustbeen. In second step, one truck come brings all bottles put into truck and turn back recycling sorting. In Fourth steps recycling to compressing into blocks.

In fifth, bottle crushing and clean the bottles and produce plastic pellets to heating pellets to from raw material. In last step, producing end products. water bottle refill and sale it again in markets its recycling plastic bottles process.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0

The response fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 150 words, coming in at only 112 words, which significantly impacts Task Achievement. Furthermore, the description of the process is extremely fragmented and lacks a clear, coherent overview of the whole nine-stage cycle. While the writer attempts to trace the steps from discarding bottles to producing end products, key stages are rushed or missing, and the summary is too brief to fully report the main features and comparisons as instructed by the prompt. Phrases like 'The process illustrate for recycling plastic bottles' demonstrate a lack of control over basic task execution. As a result, the performance falls below the Band 5 descriptor.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0

The text suffers from severe structural and organizational issues. There is no proper paragraphing; the response consists of a few disjointed sentences and fragments. While transitional phrases like 'At the beginning of the period' and 'In last step' are attempted, the overall progression is difficult to follow. Logical sequencing is frequently disrupted by broken syntax and incomplete thoughts, such as jumping abruptly from sorting to compressing and then cramming multiple complex chemical and physical processes into a single sentence ('bottle crushing and clean the bottles and produce plastic pellets to heating pellets to from raw material'). Cohesive devices are used mechanically and inaccurately, leading to a breakdown in readability.

Lexical Resource — Band 4.0

The vocabulary used is extremely limited and repetitive, with basic everyday words predominating (e.g., 'person', 'bring', 'put', 'truck', 'clean'). There are frequent word-choice and word-formation errors, such as 'dustbeen' (dustbin), 'come brings', 'turn back recycling sorting', and 'from raw material' instead of 'form raw material'. The writer attempts some topic-specific vocabulary related to the diagram ('recycling centre', 'plastic pellets', 'end products'), but these are embedded in erroneous collocations and ungrammatical phrases. The lexical range is barely adequate to convey the simplest meanings, restricting the score to Band 4.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0

Grammatical control is very weak throughout the response. There is a complete absence of accurate complex structures, and even simple sentences frequently contain major errors. Examples include missing verbs ('The process illustrate for recycling'), incorrect verb forms ('one person bring the bottles put into dustbeen'), and tangled clause structures ('produce plastic pellets to heating pellets to from raw material'). Punctuation and sentence boundaries are poorly managed, resulting in run-on fragments and unintelligible clauses. Errors are dense and frequent, frequently impeding comprehension and placing a heavy burden on the reader.

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

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