Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-18

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 6.5)

The diagram illustrates the process of recycling plastice bottle for the manufacturing of end products.

Overall, the process consists of nine stages, beginning with disposing of plastic bottles and culminating in production of end products. It is a cyclic process. The main stages include compressing, crushing, heating and storing.

The first step is to throw the plastic bottles in a recycling bin, from where they are transported to a recycling center through a truck. At the center the bottles suitable bottles are separated from the damaged ones. The selected bottles are then compressed into a block.

Furthermore, the block is crushed and the crushed block is then washed thoroughly for any impurities to be cleaned. The cleaned pieces are then passed through a machine to produce plastic pallets, which are heated and melted into raw materials. The raw materials are then stored until they are ready for manufacturing of goods such as shirts, pencils, lungh boxes and bags.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You cover the main sequence and provide a clear overview, noting that the process has nine stages, is cyclical, and ends with new products. The account accurately describes collection, sorting, compression, crushing, washing, pellet production and heating. Some details are less fully reported: the sorting stage is described as separating suitable bottles from damaged ones, whereas the diagram shows accepted and rejected bottles, and the final products are listed without mentioning that the arrows return the process to the recycling bin. The overview’s reference to “storing” is also less central than the transformation into raw material and the loop. To strengthen the response, describe the accepted/rejected sorting and explicitly connect the end products back to the start.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response is arranged in a sensible sequence, moving from an overview to the early stages and then to processing and end products. Paragraphing helps distinguish the overview from the detailed account, and transitions such as “The first step,” “Furthermore,” and “then” make the order easy to follow. However, the final paragraph compresses several stages into a long chain, so the transitions can feel mechanical and the relationships between stages are not always sharply signposted. The process’s return arrow is also not used to create a clear concluding link back to the beginning. Grouping the stages into collection and sorting, then processing and manufacture, and using more precise references such as “these pellets” would improve progression and cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of process vocabulary, including “transported,” “compressed,” “crushed,” “impurities,” and “raw materials,” which communicates the sequence clearly. There are also attempts at more specific wording, such as “culminating” and “manufacturing.” Some word choices and collocations are inaccurate or imprecise: “plastic pallets” should be “plastic pellets,” “lungh boxes” appears to mean “lunch boxes,” and “stored until they are ready for manufacturing” does not clearly express that raw material is used to make products. “Damaged ones” is also not an exact description of the diagram’s accepted and rejected bottles. Check spelling carefully and choose terms that match the process labels; this would make the vocabulary more precise and natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including the relative clause “from where they are transported” and the passive construction “are then compressed.” Most sentences remain understandable, and the sequence is generally expressed with appropriate present-tense forms. Some grammatical errors and awkward constructions remain. In “At the center the bottles suitable bottles are separated,” the repeated noun phrase disrupts the sentence; “the suitable bottles are separated” would be clearer. “For any impurities to be cleaned” is an awkward passive pattern; use “to remove impurities.” Articles and number also need attention in phrases such as “for manufacturing of goods” and “raw materials,” where the intended meaning is more naturally expressed as “for the manufacture of goods” and “raw material.” Greater control of these patterns would improve accuracy.

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