Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-06

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 diagram illustrates the recycling procedure of plastic bottles. The process involves sorting, transporting, crushing and manufacturing various products at the end.

Overall, it is a linear, multi-stage sequence process which involved nice important steps. It begins from sorting plastic bottles and end with producing plastic prodcts such as clothes, containers and poly bags.

To begin with, the plastic bottles are collected by physical labour before it transported in the garbage trucks.Then, the recyclable and non-recycling products are sorted by labour. Afterwards, the recycling bottles are compressed to give a shape large cube which later went in the rolling machine to crushed the large plastic bottles into tiny pieces of plastic waste.

Furthermore, the tony pieces undergores into producing plastic pellets machine. this plastic pellets are heated to form raw materials. Atlast, this raw material are transported into factories to produce clothes,bags,bottles and containers while using the plastic materials.

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 and sorting to the creation of end products. However, some aspects of the process are described with less clarity or are slightly inaccurate, such as stating the process is linear when the diagram clearly depicts a closed, circular loop. Key features such as the washing and heating stages are mentioned, but the description remains somewhat general and lacks complete development in places, placing this response firmly at the designated band.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt to structure the text into an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs. Logical connectors such as 'To begin with', 'Afterwards', and 'Furthermore' are used to sequence the stages of the process, which aligns well with the requirements of the lower half of the band seven descriptor. However, cohesion can feel slightly mechanical and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the pronoun use in 'before it transported', which prevents the response from achieving a higher score.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with attempts to incorporate less common items relevant to a manufacturing process, such as 'recycling procedure', 'compressed', and 'raw materials'. However, there are noticeable word-choice, word-form, and spelling errors throughout the text, including 'prodcts', 'tony' instead of tiny, 'undergores', and 'Atlast'. These inaccuracies and awkward collocations, such as 'physical labour' and 'rolling machine', reflect the characteristics of a limited lexical range where errors occasionally impede smooth reading.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but control over grammar is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in verb forms, voice, and agreement, such as 'process which involved nice important steps' (instead of nine), 'before it transported' (missing passive auxiliary), 'went in... to crushed' (incorrect infinitive), and 'this raw material are' (subject-verb agreement). While these errors do not completely obscure the overall meaning of the text, their frequency and the faulty execution of complex structures keep the grammar score at this level.

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

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