Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

The diagrammatic representation shows the process of making goods form recycling plastic bottles.

The process initiates by throwing plastic bottles in the dustbins. Then, these bottles collected and are transported to a recycling plant where it is sorted manually. The sorted bottles are further compressed into a blocks before crushed it mechanically with two crushers.

In the next step, the crushed tiny pieces are washed. The washed plastic pieces are converted into the plastic pallets by another device before heating from raw material. After that, this raw material is made to a sheets, which is used to make goods. Finally, a range of recycled products such as t-shirt, bags, boxes and bottles are made. These finished products are finally available to consumer shops.

Overall, the process has three main stages, beginning with initial transportations of the wastage bottles to the factory, followed by treatment to the bottles and finally the production of consumer recycled products.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response successfully covers all main parts of the diagram, selecting and reporting the key stages of the plastic bottle recycling process from disposal to the creation of end products. An overview is provided at the end, identifying the main phases of the loop. However, some ideas are a little under-developed or imprecise; for instance, the description moves from washing directly to heating pellets and forming raw material without fully capturing all transitional nuances shown in the diagram. Despite these minor omissions in the extension of certain details, the report addresses all parts of the prompt adequately and presents a clear overall picture of the process, earning a solid intermediate standing for this criterion.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The report demonstrates a clear overall arrangement with a logical progression from the beginning of the recycling cycle to its conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the introduction, the body describing the sequential stages, and the concluding overview. Cohesive devices such as 'Then', 'further', 'In the next step', and 'After that' are employed to guide the reader through the steps of the process, though referencing is occasionally slightly mechanical. Overall, information flows reasonably well throughout the text, meeting the standard for clear logical organisation.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to communicate information about the recycling process. There are several attempts to use less-common lexical items, such as 'diagrammatic representation', 'manually', and 'recycled products'. However, there are notable word choice and word form errors throughout the text, including 'making goods form recycling' instead of 'from', 'pallets' instead of 'pellets', and 'wastage' instead of 'waste'. These errors do not impede communication, but they reflect a typical intermediate level of lexical control where occasional inaccuracies persist in word formation and collocation.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as relative clauses and passive constructions like 'these bottles collected and are transported'. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly regarding verb forms, subject-verb agreement, and prepositions inside grammatical patterns, such as 'before crushed it mechanically', 'heating from raw material', and 'is made to a sheets'. These frequent errors require some effort from the reader to decode the exact meaning and indicate that grammatical control is limited to basic and moderately complex structures with persistent inaccuracies.

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