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 diagram illustrates the prodecure for recycling plastics bottles.

Overall, it can be seen that the process consists of nine important stages from shorting bottles in recyling center to crushing the waste products and converting them into raw materials which can be further converted to several useful items.

In one hand, the process initally begain with throwning waste materials into garbage box which is further collected by a truck and dump into the recycling center where the products are seperated according to their nature and then compressed into large blocks.Furthermore, the crushing of garbage blocks starts along with washing them.

In other hand, The crused particals are then transferred to a machine for producing plastics pellets and after that the pellets are then heated to form a raw materials. Morever, the heated materials are then packed in large scale and supply to different industries for mking different products such as clothes, reusable bottles and boxes.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response successfully covers all major stages of the plastic bottle recycling process, fulfilling the requirements for Task Achievement at this level. The overview clearly outlines that the process consists of nine stages and highlights the transformation from waste products to raw materials and end products. The main features are reported with reasonable accuracy, such as sorting, compressing, crushing, washing, pelletising, and producing end items. However, some aspects of the process are described in a somewhat generalised manner, and a few details are slightly condensed, which prevents the response from reaching a higher band. The progression of the loop is largely captured, demonstrating a clear understanding of the visual data provided.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response presents a coherent overall arrangement and attempts to organise the information into logical paragraphs. The introduction, overview, and body paragraphs follow a recognizable structure. However, referencing and cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or faulty, as seen in the unusual transition phrases 'In one hand' and 'In other hand', which disrupt the natural flow of ideas. Paragraphing is present, but the internal cohesion within paragraphs could be improved to ensure smoother progression from one stage of the diagram to the next. These limitations keep the cohesion at a moderate level, where referencing is not always completely clear.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

An adequate range of vocabulary is deployed for the task, successfully attempting less common items related to the recycling process such as 'compressing', 'crushing', 'pellets', and 'raw materials'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'prodecure' instead of procedure, 'shorting' instead of sorting, 'recyling' instead of recycling, 'throwning' instead of throwing, 'seperated' instead of separated, 'crused' instead of crushed, 'particals' instead of particles, 'Morever' instead of Moreover, and 'mking' instead of making. These inaccuracies do not entirely impede communication, but they reflect limitations in lexical control and precision that prevent the response from achieving a higher score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms to describe the cyclical process. There is a control over basic structures, but frequent errors in grammar and punctuation persist throughout the text. Examples include article misuse ('into garbage box', 'to the recycling center'), prepositional errors ('dump into' instead of dumped into, 'supply to' instead of supplied to), and awkward verb forms or tense choices ('initally begain with throwning'). While these errors rarely completely impede understanding, they occur frequently enough alongside faulty complex structures to restrict the grammatical score to this level, showing that further practice with grammatical accuracy and sentence boundary punctuation is needed.

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

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