Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-08

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 following diagram provides the information about the process of recycle the plastic bottles through different nine steps.

From an overall prespective, people throw the bottles into the bins after following the various processes these bottles will be recycled and produce several items.

Firstly, individuals drop the bottles into dustbins then truck collected that bottles from the bins and deliver it to the recycling center. In the third process, man sorting the bottles and confrim what bottles are good and used for reuse. After that send to the compressing into blocks when this process done then crushed the material and washed the particles.

Completed that procedure these components producing plastic pellets in the machine and machine throw into pile up shape then these substances are heating pellets to form raw material. These raw materials are compelled in the form of packets and in the last process producing end products for the consumers like pencils, bottles, lunch boxes, bag, and shirts. So these are the processes occured to recycle the products.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You cover the main sequence from putting bottles in bins through collection, sorting, processing and making new products, and you include examples such as pencils, bottles, lunch boxes and bags. However, the account is only partly complete and some details are unclear or inaccurate. For example, the sorting stage is described as deciding which bottles are “good and used for reuse,” rather than separating recyclable bottles from rejected items. The overview also says the bottles are recycled into “several items” but does not clearly identify the closed-loop nature of the process, in which end products can return to the recycling bin. Explain the stages more precisely and give a clearer overview of the cycle’s beginning, transformation and return.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response follows the process in broadly the right order, and sequencing expressions such as “Firstly,” “After that,” and “in the last process” help the reader track the stages. The paragraphing is limited, however, and the progression becomes difficult to follow in places, particularly in the long sentence beginning “Completed that procedure.” Some links are also awkward or unclear: “After that send to the compressing” does not identify what is sent, while “So these are the processes” repeats the idea of the introduction rather than adding a useful conclusion. Organise the report into a brief overview and clearly grouped stages, and use complete sentences with explicit references to the bottles or material at each transition.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant process vocabulary, including “sorting,” “compressing,” “crushed,” “washed,” “plastic pellets,” and “raw material,” so the reader can recognise the main operations. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, sometimes making the description hard to interpret. “Dustbins” is less precise than “recycling bins,” “pile up shape” does not clearly describe the pellets or mound, and “compelled in the form of packets” is not an appropriate way to describe the raw material being packaged or formed into blocks. There are also spelling errors such as “prespective,” “confrim,” and “occured.” Build a more precise set of process verbs and check spelling and natural word combinations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt to connect stages in longer sentences, for example with “then” and “after,” but the structures are often faulty, and simple sentence patterns dominate. Errors in verb forms and sentence construction occur throughout: “truck collected that bottles” needs a subject and a correctly formed verb, while “man sorting” and “these components producing” lack appropriate finite verbs. The sentence “After that send to the compressing into blocks” also has no clear subject. Articles, agreement and plurals are inconsistent, as in “the bins” and “these raw materials are compelled.” These errors sometimes make relationships between stages difficult to understand. Practise writing each stage as a complete sentence with a clear subject and verb, then combine selected stages using accurate clauses.

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