Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-20

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 images decipts the steps involved in recycling plastic bottels.

Overall, we can see that this proces consist of 9 stages starting from throwing and authorities c

collecting that bottels and passing it through different stages and producing end products.

At first step, the people throw the used plastic bottels in a garbage bin after that in second step the trash collectors collect all the trash and then in 3rd step that waste passes through sorting in recycling center in which the recycleable material will be seprated, After that those material which are suitable for recycling are compressed in to blocks and this blockes were crushed into small pieces and washed which is the 5th step of this process.

Now the production process starts in 6th step by producing plastic pellets of those crushed bottels and after that in 7th stage heating pellets to form raw material after heating raw material is produced which is 8th step and the last and final step is using that raw material for the production of new items like bottels, containers, handbags, etc.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student successfully identifies and reports the main features of the process diagram illustrating how plastic bottles are recycled. All nine stages of the cyclical process are mentioned, starting from disposal and collection through sorting, compressing, crushing, washing, pelletising, heating, raw material production, and finally manufacturing end products. However, the response suffers from a lack of paragraphing and relies heavily on a single, extremely long run-on sentence for the body of the text, which detracts slightly from the overall presentation of information. There is also a minor inaccuracy in reading the final stage items, mentioning handbags instead of T-shirts or carrier bags. Nevertheless, the core information of the diagram is covered adequately.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The response has severe structural limitations regarding paragraphing and cohesion. The entire text, apart from a brief introductory sentence, is written as one massive, continuous paragraph. While transitional markers such as 'At first step', 'after that in second step', and 'in 3rd step' are used to sequence the stages chronologically, they are repetitive and overly mechanical ('after that' is used multiple times). Furthermore, the lack of paragraph breaks between the introduction, overview, and body details creates a dense wall of text, making the logical progression difficult to follow smoothly. Referencing is sometimes unclear due to run-on structures.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for describing a simple mechanical and industrial process, incorporating words like 'recycling', 'sorting', 'compressed', 'crushed', 'washed', and 'pellets'. However, there are numerous spelling errors throughout the text, including 'decipts' instead of depicts, 'bottels' instead of bottles, 'proces' instead of process, 'collect' where authorities are discussed, 'recycleable' instead of recyclable, 'seprated' instead of separated, and 'blockes' instead of blocks. These spelling mistakes and occasional word-choice issues occasionally draw attention, though communication is generally maintained.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.5

The grammatical range is limited, heavily dominated by a massive compound-complex sentence structure joined by excessive coordinating conjunctions and commas (e.g., 'At first step, the people throw the used plastic bottels in a garbage bin after that in second step...'). There are frequent grammatical errors, such as missing articles ('at first step', 'in second step'), incorrect prepositions, subject-verb agreement issues ('this blockes were crushed'), and punctuation failures resulting in run-on sentences. Complex structures are attempted through sequential clauses, but control over punctuation and sentence boundaries is weak, causing significant difficulty for the reader.

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