Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-30

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 5.5)

The given diagram show recycling process of plastic bottles into some useful things.

At first recycle bottles are put in recycle bin or container placed by recycling companies.

After that recycle bottles are collected by the company trucks from the recycline bins to the comppany recycling center.

In the next step of recycline process the workers start sorting of plastic bottles and separate those bottles which could be proceed in to next step of this process.

In 4th step the recycled bottles are compressed into hard box by the compressing machine.

After compressing the next step is crushing in which the compressed box is passed through the crusher and cruch particales are collected in the container filled with water placed exactly below the crushing machine other end. Water is used to wash the particals at the same time.

After crushing and washing these particals are then passed through the machine which convert these particals in to plastic pellets.

Now these plastic pallets are heated to form raw material.

This raw material now ready to use for the making of end products like new plastic bottles, containers, pencils, shirts, bags and many more things.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The student successfully covers all the main stages of the recycling process depicted in the diagram, beginning with discarding bottles in bins and ending with the production of new end products. The overview is implicit rather than explicit, but the chronological sequence is properly maintained. There are minor spelling and grammatical slips in describing the steps, but all core features—sorting, compressing, crushing, washing, pelletising, heating, and manufacturing—are reported accurately in line with the visual data. The response fully satisfies the requirements of Task 1.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response exhibits a basic chronological progression, moving logically through the numbered steps of the diagram using simple transitional phrases such as "At first", "After that", "In the next step", and "In 4th step". However, the paragraphing is extremely weak, as the entire text is lumped into a single block of consecutive sentences without clear separation of introduction, body stages, and conclusion. Cohesive devices are somewhat repetitive and mechanical, and referencing is occasionally unclear, placing the performance firmly in Band 5.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully incorporating topic-specific terms such as "recycling bin", "compressing machine", "crusher", "plastic pellets", and "raw material". However, there are numerous spelling and word-form errors throughout the text, including "recycline" for recycling, "comppany" for company, "cruch particales" for crushed particles, and "pallets" instead of pellets. Less common lexical items are attempted but lack precision and accuracy, preventing the score from rising above Band 5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as relative clauses and passive constructions ("are put in recycle bin", "are collected by the company trucks"). However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly missing articles (e.g., "show recycling process", "into hard box"), incorrect prepositions, and persistent spelling/morphological issues. While meaning is generally recoverable, the frequency of errors impacts the overall accuracy of the writing.

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