Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-25

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 4.5)

The main problem of the global environment is the climate change and all subsequently associated with the environmental pollutions, sea level uncertainity also air pollution and others too associated with the plastics. so many companies started the 0 carbon emmition project.

here we also see the one of the process that can make environment less pollutant and that process is recycling we can use that regected plastic to make new plastic bottles, also called best from waste.

In these process we have to collect waste plastic bottles in to the proper containers and that all container will be carried by a recycling truck that comes biweekly or weekly, and they carry that bottles to the recycling station where all waste thats in recycle bin will be sorted and in the next process it will be compressed and shape in to blocks afterwards it will be crushing with the crushers and whashing the impurities in the further process and that created a plastic pellets in the machines and that pellates used as a raw material for manufacturing new plastic bottles. that pellets goes to further process with heating produce raw plastic and that shaped in to different products so we dont need to throw plastic in to environment it will used in to produce the new variety of the products.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response4.5
Coherence and Cohesion4.0
Lexical Resource4.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy4.0
Overall4.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

The response attempts to describe the plastic recycling process, but it falls short of a fully developed academic report. While the writer captures several key steps of the diagram—such as collection, sorting, compressing, crushing, washing, and producing pellets—the response includes a lengthy, irrelevant introduction about global climate change and zero-carbon emissions that does not belong in an academic Task 1 report. Furthermore, the description lacks an overview, which is a crucial requirement for achieving a Band 6 or higher in Task Achievement. The progression of the 9-stage loop is somewhat muddled by the inclusion of personal commentary and informal phrasing like 'best from waste'. Consequently, the task is only partially addressed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

The text suffers significantly from poor paragraphing and run-on sentences. The entire response is structured as just two massive, poorly linked paragraphs, with the second paragraph consisting of a single, excessively long, rambling sentence running over 100 words ('In these process we have to collect waste...'). Cohesive devices are either missing or misused, relying heavily on repetitive coordinating conjunctions like 'and that' or 'and then'. There is no clear logical progression or introduction of an overview, making the overall arrangement difficult to follow. Referencing is also confusing at times, as pronouns do not always clearly point to their antecedents.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

The lexical range is limited and frequently inaccurate. The student attempts some less common vocabulary related to the prompt, such as 'pollutions', 'uncertainity', 'emmition', 'regected', 'pellates', and 'whashing', but these contain frequent spelling and word-form errors. Phrasing is often informal or unidiomatic, such as 'best from waste' and 'that all container will be carried'. While the vocabulary is adequate to convey a basic understanding of the recycling stages, the high frequency of lexical errors and lack of precision restrict the score to this band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.0

Grammatical control is weak throughout the response. The text is characterized by heavy run-on sentences and comma splices, particularly in the long second paragraph which strings multiple clauses together without proper punctuation. There are numerous basic grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('environment is the climate change', 'that all container will be carried'), preposition errors ('throw plastic in to environment'), and incorrect verb forms ('it will be crushing', 'that created a plastic pellets'). Complex sentence structures are attempted but are generally faulty and lack control.

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.