Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-27

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 diagram illustrates various steps for regenerating valuable plastic tumblers.

Overall, plastic bottles pass through nine major recentisizing process stages hence come up with everyday useful goods.

At first human used the bottles, collect them and discard them in a big bustbin of recycle logo on it. Once the bin is fulled carried by the truck and went straight to the recycling center for sorting. The staff there separate types of bottles in yes and no boxes. After that the boxes are compressed to reduce the mass of matrial in flatten structure and move forward to crushed into fine particles bywith the help of two big plates, the crused mixture is poured in water tank where is washed and ready to the next step. which is producing plastic pellets, hence the washed crush is adding from the top area in machine and pellets is collected through front opener where at the same time it is heated to convert it into raw material.

At last it is arranged in a sequence on a flatten table where it is organised and tabuler form and ready to make desirable products like cloths, plastic boxes, bottles, pens and bags.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The student attempts to summarise all stages of the plastic bottle recycling process, starting from consumer disposal through to the creation of end products. However, there are notable misinterpretations of the visual data. For instance, the text refers to 'valuable plastic tumblers' and mentions 'two big plates' crushing the plastic, whereas the diagram depicts rotating gears/crushers. Furthermore, the overview sentence is somewhat confusingly phrased ("recentisizing process stages"). While all parts of the loop are mentioned sequentially, the development lacks precision and misreads specific graphical elements, placing this response around Band 5.0.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response is divided into an introduction and a single, very dense body paragraph that runs through the entire sequence. Cohesive devices are attempted using transitional phrases such as 'At first', 'Once', 'After that', and 'At last'. However, run-on sentences and a lack of proper paragraph breaks make the progression difficult to follow. Referencing is sometimes unclear, particularly with ambiguous pronouns ('where is washed', 'which is producing'). Overall organization is quite weak, matching the criteria for Band 5.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is a mix of basic and attempted less common terms. The student manages to use words like 'regenerating', 'compressed', 'particles', and 'pellets'. However, there are frequent word-choice and collocation errors, such as 'bustbin' instead of bin, 'fulled' instead of full, 'matrial' instead of material, and 'crused' instead of crushed. Spelling errors ('recentisizing', 'tabuler') and awkward phrasing constrain the lexical score to Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The text demonstrates a very limited range of grammatical structures, relying heavily on simple clauses strung together with conjunctions ('and') or relative clauses that lead to run-on sentences. There are frequent grammatical errors, such as missing subjects or articles ('At first human used', 'went straight'), incorrect verb forms ('is fulled carried', 'is adding'), and faulty punctuation. These errors cause difficulty for the reader and pull the response into the Band 5.0 category.

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