Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-12

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 5.0)

The diagram demonstrates the process of recycling plastic bottles in 9 steps.

Overall the proses beginning with people drop plastic bottles in a basket , over is ended with new products like t shirt .

In the beginning at the first step human drop plastic bottles and in the second stage garbage truck take all the garbage, from their to the step of sorting in the recycling centre , over we go to the 4 th step were we compressing all the plastic bottles into blocks in the 5 ft stage we crunching the bloks of bottles with a special machines, after that we move on to the next stage 6 were we producing plastic pellets and we heating them to be form raw materials and with this raw material we make in the final stage producing and make products like t shirt and new bottles of water or anyh drink

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the diagram as a nine-step recycling process and mention its start and end, including the production of new items such as a T-shirt. However, the account only partially covers the stages: it omits the important sorting decision between accepted and rejected bottles, the washing stage, and the return arrow that makes this a closed loop. Some stages are also blurred together—for example, heating pellets to form raw material is not clearly separated from producing the pellets. To improve, give a concise overview of the full cycle, then report each main stage accurately and in order, including how the process returns to bottle use.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

There is a basic sequence, signalled by phrases such as “In the beginning,” “in the second stage,” and “after that,” so the reader can follow the general direction of the process. However, nearly all the information is placed in one long paragraph and one extended sentence, with several stages joined by commas. This makes the progression difficult to track, and links such as “over we go” and “from their to the step” are unclear. Organise the response into a short overview and a separate process paragraph, and use clear stage-to-stage transitions. Breaking the sequence into manageable sentences would make the relationships between stages easier to understand.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The response uses some relevant process vocabulary, including “sorting,” “compressing,” “plastic pellets,” and “raw materials,” and it names examples of end products. However, the range is limited and several word choices or spellings make the description less clear, such as “basket” for the recycling bin, “crunching” for crushing, and “bloks.” “Garbage” is also repeated where “plastic bottles” or “recyclable material” would be more precise. Aim for accurate process terms and check spelling and collocations. For example, describe bottles being “collected by a recycling truck,” then “crushed” and “washed,” rather than using informal or imprecise wording.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

You attempt to describe a sequence using time clauses and connected stages, but the response relies on a limited range of sentence structures, and the long final sentence contains frequent grammatical errors. Examples include “the proses beginning,” “people drop,” “truck take,” and “we compressing,” where verb forms or agreement are incorrect. Articles and sentence boundaries are also inconsistent, as in “in a basket , over is ended.” These errors sometimes make the process hard to follow. Use a clear present-simple pattern for each stage—for example, “The bottles are collected and taken to a recycling centre”—and separate each main step into a complete sentence.

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