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 given flow diagram illustrates the whole procedure by which plastic bottles are recycled. Overall, it is a cyclic process which constitues nine different steps. Starting from wasting plastic followed by the colloection, compressing, crushing, producing plastic pellets, heating them, collection of raw materials and ends up by making products from plastic.

It is cleary seen that first step involves the throwing of plastic into garbage. Consequently, these wasted are collected by the authorities who work as garbage collectors. Then in third step, plastic material reach in recycling centre where the variety of plastic or other material being keep separate. After separating all plastic, it is compressed into blocks and passed through crushing mechine. All crushed material will dip in water to clean them and put them into mechine to producing plastic pellets. These plastic pellets will be heated to form raw material and then raw material are utilized to produce different products including plastic bottle, pencils and bags. People discard them again after using and cycle starts again.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response successfully addresses all parts of the task by providing an overview of the cyclical process of recycling plastic bottles and outlining the main stages from disposal to end products. However, some aspects of the process are developed more fully than others. While the description covers the initial steps like disposal and sorting clearly, parts of the latter stages, such as the transition from raw materials to manufacturing end products, are a bit mechanical and lack full extension. The overview provided in the introduction is relevant, but it could have integrated more key highlights of the overall mechanism to move closer to a higher band.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The report maintains a coherent overall arrangement with a logical sequence that follows the chronological order of the diagram from step to step. Cohesive devices are used to guide the reader through the cycle, such as 'Starting from', 'Consequently', 'Then in third step', and 'After separating all plastic'. However, referencing and transitions are sometimes a bit repetitive or mechanical, preventing a smoother, more natural flow. Paragraphing is also somewhat limited, as the entire body of the report is clumped together into one large block rather than being divided logically into two or more distinct paragraphs to structure the stages of the process.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to describe the steps of the recycling process understandably. There are noticeable lexical and spelling errors throughout the text, such as 'constitues' instead of 'constitutes', 'wasting' instead of 'waste', 'colloection' instead of 'collection', 'cleary' instead of 'clearly', and 'mechine' instead of 'machine'. The writer attempts to use less common vocabulary like 'authorities', 'utilized', and 'compressed', but these slips in spelling and word choice prevent the response from achieving a higher level of lexical precision and fluency.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt to handle multi-clause sentences. However, there are frequent errors in grammar and article usage that persist throughout the text. Examples include missing or incorrect articles ('first step involves', 'reach in recycling centre', 'into mechine to producing'), subject-verb agreement issues ('plastic material reach', 'wasted are collected'), and awkward prepositions. While these errors rarely impede overall communication, they occur frequently enough to restrict the grammatical score to this band, demonstrating a need for closer attention to basic sentence architecture and word forms.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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