Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-19

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 6.0)

The diagram illustrates ow plastic bottles are recycled from waste disposal to producing end products .

Overall, it involes many steps including waste disposal, collection, sorting plastic bottels, compression, crushing and washing, producing plastic pellets, heating pellets to make raw material and producing end products.

In the first step water bottles are disposed of in the garbage followed by its collection by garbage trucks in the next step. Afterward, water bottles are send to recycling centre for sorting out plastic bottles from the garbage. In the next step these water bottles are compressed in blocks. Subsequently, plastic blocks are crushed by crushers into small pieces and washed. After that, small plastic pieces are converted to plastic pellets. Lastly, these pellets are heated and results in raw material. In the final step this raw material is used to make end products like plastic containers, bottles, fabrics, pens, and bags. This process is continued making a cycle.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student successfully covers all the key stages of the process diagram, from the initial waste disposal and collection to sorting, compression, crushing, washing, pellet production, raw material creation, and final end products. The overview statement captures the main cyclic nature and steps of the process adequately. However, there are minor omissions in detailing some intermediate connections precisely, and the response is close to the minimum word limit. Despite these slight limitations, the core requirements of Task 1 are met, and all parts of the diagram are addressed accurately.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response presents a coherent overall arrangement that follows the chronological and cyclical flow of the diagram. The student uses a variety of cohesive devices to transition between steps, such as 'In the first step', 'followed by', 'Afterward', 'In the next step', 'Subsequently', 'After that', and 'Lastly'. Paragraphing, however, is underdeveloped, as the text is clumped into only two paragraphs (an introduction/overview and a single block of body sentences). Paragraphing could be used more effectively to separate the collection and sorting phases from the processing and manufacturing phases.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, successfully employing process-related terminology such as 'disposed', 'collection', 'sorting', 'compressed', 'crushed', 'washed', 'pellets', and 'raw material'. There are several spelling and typographical errors throughout the text, including 'ow' instead of 'how', 'involes' instead of 'involves', 'bottels' instead of 'bottles', and 'send' instead of 'sent'. Additionally, collocation is occasionally awkward, such as 'garbage trucks' instead of 'recycling trucks'. These lexical errors do not impede overall communication but keep the score at Band 6.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The response displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and prepositional phrases (e.g., 'like plastic containers, bottles, fabrics, pens, and bags'). There are several grammatical errors and typos, such as 'water bottles are send to recycling centre' (passive voice error and missing article) and 'This process is continued making a cycle' (run-on/punctuation issue). Punctuation is generally acceptable, and while errors are present, they rarely impede communication, allowing the response to comfortably secure a Band 6.

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.