Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-04

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 process chart illustrates how plastic bottles are recycled.

overall , it is evident that the process involves several stages with two most notable features being carried out manually is collecting and sorting of bottles. The process starts with crushing of plastic bottles and ends with producing the products.

It is clearly seen that the firstly plastic bottles are collected by a man and than transformed into truck. In the next stage, bottles are sorted by a man. Bottles are pressed into blocks in the fourth step. In the next stage crushing takes place, where crushed pieces of bottles are washed.

Moving towards the rest of the information, In the 6th step, plastic pellets are produced. After that, pallets are heated and contribute to made raw material. Raw material involved to form different products from waste bottles and once items are made , recycling is again takes place and continued.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by outlining the main stages of the plastic bottle recycling process, from initial collection to the production of new end products. An overview is successfully provided at the beginning, noting that the process involves multiple steps and highlighting manual collection and sorting. However, some aspects of the process are under-developed or described with slight inaccuracies, such as stating that the process starts with crushing rather than collection and sorting, which limits the score. While the overall progression is captured, greater precision in describing specific intermediate stages like washing and pellet heating would improve the development of the response.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The report has a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and logical progression following the steps of the diagram. Cohesive devices are employed to guide the reader through the sequence, such as 'In the next stage', 'Moving towards the rest of the information', and 'After that'. However, referencing and cohesion can sometimes feel mechanical or repetitive, particularly with transitional phrases like 'In the next stage' being used multiple times. Paragraphing is also somewhat basic, as the body of the response could be better divided to separate the initial sorting stages from the later manufacturing phases.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating process-specific terms such as 'recycling centre', 'sorting', 'crushing', 'plastic pellets', and 'raw material'. There are, however, several word choice, word form, and collocation errors that prevent a higher score, such as 'transformed into truck' instead of 'transferred to a truck', 'pallets' instead of 'pellets', and 'made raw material' instead of 'forming raw material'. Spelling and minor lexical slips occur throughout the text, though they do not seriously impede overall communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writing demonstrates a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors and awkward phrasings, including missing or incorrect articles ('the firstly', 'recycling is again takes place'), prepositions ('carried out manually is collecting'), and verb forms ('contribute to made'). Punctuation errors also appear, such as the lowercase start in 'overall ,'. These errors are frequent enough to cause occasional difficulty or require rereading, placing the grammar at this level where simple structures are generally controlled better than complex ones.

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