Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · 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 4.5)

in this picture they recognise how the plastics bottle is recycled where the women throw the bottles into the trashcan and then after some time a trucks come and sent it to the recycling center and then the women can side the bottles to recycled it and they crashed so many bott and whash it and then they produce plastic pellets and then heating to form a raw material and then they profuce so many thing such as t shirts and plastic bags and the plastic box and so many things so this process is also known as recycling so thats we know thats how bottles is make in this pic we also learnt about how we cannot waste bottles we should also don’t throw it on road and dont waste plastic because plastic provide lots of thing to use so it is so meaningful for us which have so many advantages

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response addresses the task only partially. While the writer attempts to outline the steps involved in recycling plastic bottles, the overview of the process is very limited and lacks a clear, academic structure. Furthermore, the text includes a significant amount of irrelevant personal commentary and moralising about not wasting plastic at the end, rather than focusing purely on summarising the visual data. The progression of the stages is partially described, but the account is fragmented and misses key details shown in the diagram, such as the sorting stage being broken down accurately or the specific output products in a structured manner. To improve, the writer must focus strictly on reporting the main features of the process without introducing personal opinions or external advice.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

There is a severe lack of organization in the response. The text is written as one single, long continuous run-on sentence without any paragraph breaks. Cohesive devices are extremely limited, relying almost exclusively on repetitive conjunctions such as 'and then' to link clauses together. This creates a monotonous flow and makes it difficult for the reader to follow the logical sequence of the diagram. Referencing is also unclear in places, such as pronoun use referring back to previous nouns. To achieve a higher band, the writer needs to divide the text into logical paragraphs (such as an introduction and a summary of the stages) and employ a wider, more accurate range of cohesive devices to connect ideas smoothly.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

The lexical range is limited and minimally adequate for the task. The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive, with words like 'bottles', 'plastic', and 'things' appearing constantly throughout the text. There are also notable word choice and word form errors, such as 'plastics bottle' instead of 'plastic bottles', 'side' instead of 'sort', and 'profuce' or 'whash' which indicate spelling or slip issues. Although the core topic of recycling is identifiable, the lack of precise vocabulary prevents the writer from clearly describing the technical stages of the process. To improve, the writer should build a stronger repertoire of process-related vocabulary and pay closer attention to word forms and spelling.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The writer demonstrates a very limited range of grammatical structures. The entire response consists of a single, run-on sentence joined by coordinating conjunctions, lacking proper terminal punctuation like periods. There are frequent grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('a trucks come'), incorrect verb tenses ('bottles is make'), and missing articles. These persistent errors cause frequent strain and difficulty for the reader trying to parse the meaning. To move up to a higher band, the writer must use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, break the text down into grammatically correct individual sentences, and maintain accurate control over tense consistency and subject-verb agreement.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.