Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-29

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 diagram illustrates the process of recycling plastic bottles. Commencing from collection and ending at producing products.

Looking at the details, the process strating from collecting plastic bottles form dusbins and transports to the recycling centre, where sorting the plastic bottles that which will be recycle. Then after, compressed the selected bottles into blocks. In the next step, blocks move to the crushing step where blocks crush into small peaces and wash these small particles and remove all dust from them. Furthermore, these smalls particles move to machine which produce the plastic pellets. Thereafter, these pellets heat up at high temperature to form the raw material. Then the raw material use to made different plastic products such as plastis bottles, plastic bags and pencils. Meanwhile, these products eventually through into dusbins after use and then it again recollect and the whole cycle process countinue.

Overall, the whole recycling process consists of nine steps. Starting from collecting and the sorting the bottles at recycling centre. Thereafter, compressed into blocks and then one of the most essential step is crushing. Then it move towards the machine where pastic pellets produce. After that, heat up and converted into raw material and then produce different things.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You cover the main stages, from putting bottles in a bin and collection to sorting, compressing, crushing, washing, pellet production, heating, and making new products. The overview also identifies the process as a cycle with nine steps, which gives the reader a useful summary. Most details match the diagram, including the examples of bottles, bags, and pencils. However, some features are less fully reported: the sorting stage separates recyclable bottles from rejected items, and the diagram shows the finished products returning to the start of the cycle. Your claim that products are thrown into bins after use is plausible, but the diagram only shows an arrow completing the loop. A clearer, more precise overview and fuller coverage of the sorting and return stages would strengthen the response.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response follows the process in a generally logical order, and paragraphing separates the detailed account from the concluding overview. Sequencing expressions such as “Then,” “Furthermore,” and “Thereafter” help show how one stage leads to the next. However, the overview comes after the detailed description, and it repeats several stages rather than highlighting the cycle’s key features. Some links are mechanical or unclear: “Meanwhile” does not express a clear contrast, while “these products eventually through into dusbins” makes the final connection difficult to follow. The opening fragment, “Commencing from collection and ending at producing products,” is also disconnected from the preceding sentence. Organise the response as an introduction, a concise overview, and then a staged description, using references and transitions more precisely.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant process vocabulary, including “sorting,” “compressed,” “crushing,” “pellets,” and “raw material,” and these terms help communicate the sequence. There is some variety in how you describe the stages, but several word-choice, collocation, and spelling problems reduce precision. For example, “small peaces,” “smalls particles,” “past ic pellets” (written as “pastic pellets”), and “dusbins” are inaccurate spellings, while “the whole cycle process” is redundant. “The raw material use to made” also reflects an awkward expression, though the underlying issue is grammatical. Choose accurate process collocations such as “crush the plastic into small pieces” and “use the raw material to manufacture products,” and proofread spelling and word forms carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a relative clause in “where sorting the plastic bottles that which will be recycle” and a sequence of linked stages. However, some sentence structures are incomplete or faulty, which makes parts of the process harder to understand. “Commencing from collection and ending at producing products” is a fragment, and “Then after, compressed the selected bottles into blocks” lacks a clear subject and correctly formed verb. There are also errors in tense, agreement, and infinitive patterns, as in “the raw material use to made” and “the whole cycle process countinue.” Use complete sentences with a consistent present simple for process descriptions, for example, “The selected bottles are compressed into blocks.”

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.