Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-01
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 illustration gives information about the the method of the reusing of the plastic bottle. Overall, new product like shirts, bags, and bottle have produced with the help of recycle the waste plastic bottle.
It is quite evident from the diagram that the method of reusing plastic bottles should be completed after the following several steps. Firstly, people throw the bottles into bin than a truck carry this waste material into the recycling centre. In this place good and bad waste bottles have separated and compressing this into blocks. After this blocks are crushing into piece and washed this.
Furthermore, this crushed pieces have used to produced the plastic pellets with the help of the machine use. Than heating this pellets for some time until this pellets have completed convert into the raw material. Finally, raw material have used to product the new product such as shirts, bags, pencil and new bottles.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0
The response successfully addresses all parts of the task by providing an overview and outlining the main stages of the plastic bottle recycling process. However, some aspects are developed more fully than others. The overview is somewhat basic, stating that 'new product like shirts, bags, and bottle have produced', which captures the final outcome but misses some intermediate mechanical details. While the sequential flow from discarding waste to creating end products is generally captured, certain steps are slightly generalized or under-developed, reflecting the performance expected at this level where relevant ideas are presented but lack full elaboration and precision across all stages of the diagram.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0
The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a logical sequence following the stages of the diagram from start to finish. Paragraphing is utilized to separate the introduction from the subsequent steps of the process. However, cohesion is at times faulty or mechanical due to repetitive transitional phrases and awkward referencing. For instance, the use of words like 'Firstly', 'After this', and 'Furthermore' helps structure the text, but the transitions between sentences can feel abrupt, and pronouns or referencing terms are not always managed smoothly, which occasionally disrupts the flow of information across the response.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating topic-specific terms such as 'recycling centre', 'sorting', 'crushing', 'plastic pellets', and 'raw material'. There are, however, noticeable word-choice and word-form errors that reflect a developing lexicon, such as 'reusing of the plastic bottle' instead of recycling, 'product' instead of produce, and repetitive verbs like 'have produced' and 'have used'. While these inaccuracies do not seriously impede communication, they restrict the vocabulary score, as the student attempts less common lexical items with frequent errors in form and collocation.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The response displays a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but control over grammar and mechanics is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in verb forms, passive constructions, articles, and prepositions inside grammatical patterns. Examples include 'new product... have produced', 'waste bottles have separated and compressing this into blocks', and 'than heating this pellets'. These frequent errors in tense, voice agreement, and prepositions cause some difficulty for the reader and keep the writing firmly within the range of control where simple structures are more reliable than complex attempts.
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