Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-02
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 diagram illustrates the process of recycling plastic bottles. The diagram consists nine stages starting from people throwing their plastic bottles in the trash-cans and ends with new plastic products.
Overall, it is clear that this diagram has multiple stages, from collecting trash around the city into recycling them to newly made items. Afterword, in the recycling center bottles are seperated and compressed into small cubes. Next, they are cut and washed with water subsequently, they are placed in high temperature to form raw material. Finally, they are shaped to different type of plastic products.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The response achieves a partial overview of the process, but it is severely limited by word count. The length requirement is not met, as the text contains only ninety-five words, falling well short of the one-hundred-and-fifty-word minimum. While the student outlines the main stages of recycling plastic bottles from the initial disposal to the creation of end products, the explanation lacks sufficient detail and extension. Key mechanical steps such as sorting, compressing, crushing, washing, and pelletizing are mentioned briefly, but the description fails to fully develop these stages or draw meaningful comparisons where relevant. To reach a higher band, the writer must ensure the word count requirement is fulfilled and expand significantly on the individual steps shown in the diagram.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The text demonstrates a basic overall structure with an introduction and an overview body paragraph. However, the progression of ideas is somewhat mechanical due to the brevity of the response. Cohesive devices are attempted using transition words such as 'Afterword', 'Next', and 'Finally', but some of these are awkward or misused, such as 'Afterword' instead of 'Afterwards'. Paragraphing is minimally managed, grouping too much of the core process into a single, dense block of text. To improve Coherence and Cohesion, the writer needs to organise the stages into clearer, logically separated paragraphs and employ a wider, more natural range of cohesive links to guide the reader smoothly through the cyclical process.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for describing a process, featuring terms like 'recycling center', 'compressed', 'cubes', and 'raw material'. However, the range is limited and repetitive. There are noticeable lexical errors and inappropriate word choices, such as 'consists nine stages' (missing the preposition 'of'), 'trash-cans', and 'seperated' (spelling error). The student attempts some less common vocabulary, but these errors prevent precise communication. To achieve a higher band, the writer should incorporate a wider variety of precise process-related verbs and nouns, eliminate spelling mistakes, and ensure correct collocations when describing technical stages such as melting or extrusion.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The writing relies on a limited range of sentence structures, primarily simple and basic complex forms. There are frequent grammatical errors that affect accuracy, including preposition omissions and errors in verb patterns, such as 'consists nine stages' and 'placed in high temperature' instead of 'placed at high temperatures'. Articles are also sometimes misused or omitted, as seen in 'in recycling center'. While these errors rarely completely impede understanding, they occur frequently throughout the short text. To progress, the writer must demonstrate greater control over complex sentence forms, improve grammatical accuracy with prepositions and articles, and ensure consistent subject-verb agreement.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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