Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-28

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 given diagram illustrates the procedure of recycling of platic bottles.

Overall, the process of recycing is consist on many parts like collecting trash, recycling centre, crusting and how things are produced.

firstly, the plastic materials collect in trash beens and after a truck collect everything. After reaching in recycling centre people make everything separate. The compressing machine press the whole trash of bottles amd transform into the big blocks. These blocks cross from crushing machine which makes them to small pieces. The washing process clean the material and leave them to dry.

Secondly, the pruducing plastic pellets process convert the whole plastic in to form of raw material. The raw materal shifted in many plastic companies in huge quantity these comanies make many products like shirt, plastic bags, plastic boxe and bottle which people use them for different porpose this whole process always go through in whole life beacause plastic neaver die. Plastic is a form of raw material which always change its form.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The student attempts to describe all nine stages of the plastic bottle recycling process, covering collection, sorting, crushing, washing, pellet production, raw material creation, and end products. However, there are significant flaws in the tracking of the process, such as stating that 'The washing process clean the material and leave them to dry' and missing some finer details of the loop. Key features such as the cyclical nature of the loop are mentioned in the conclusion, but the overview is very weak, merely stating 'the process of recycing is consist on many parts'. Overall, the task is addressed partially, aligning with Band 5 descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response is divided into paragraphs, but the paragraphing is poorly handled, grouping multiple distinct steps into a single block of text. Cohesive devices are either repetitive or inaccurate, such as 'firstly' followed abruptly by 'Secondly' without clear logical progression between the stages. Referencing is occasionally unclear, as seen in phrases like 'leave them to dry' where the antecedent is ambiguous. While there is a basic chronological arrangement, the lack of sophisticated cohesive devices and poor paragraph structure place this at Band 5.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is basic and limited, with several spelling and word-choice errors that impede communication in places, such as 'platic' instead of plastic, 'recycing' instead of recycling, 'crusting' instead of crushing, and 'pruducing' instead of producing. There are also unnatural collocations like 'consist on many parts' and 'trash beens'. Although the writer attempts some process-related vocabulary ('raw material', 'plastic pellets'), the frequent errors and restricted range fit the Band 5 descriptor criteria.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but control is weak. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('the plastic materials collect', 'a truck collect'), missing articles ('reaching in recycling centre'), and awkward phrasing ('this whole process always go through in whole life beacause plastic neaver die'). Punctuation is also problematic, with run-on sentences. These frequent errors cause difficulty for the reader and reflect a Band 5 level of grammatical accuracy.

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