Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-11-01

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 map illustrates the procedure of reusing plastic bottles.

The cyclic procedure has been followed for reutilizing plastic bottles. It incorpated nine major steps from sourcing bottles from the trash to crushing and then producing end products.

Initially, the bottles are collected from the dump and then they separated for recycling procedure. Selected plastic bottles have been added into the compressing blocks and then it crushed into small plastics pallets.

After washing the plastic pellets, the next step is heating pellets to make a raw material. The raw material of plastic then added into the sacks. These sacks of raw material are used for making different products like water bottles, plastic jars, clothes, handbags etc. This the whole cyclic procedure .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the process as cyclical and mention several key stages, including sorting, compressing, crushing, washing, heating, and making end products. However, the account is only partial: it omits the collection truck and the recycling-centre sorting decision, and it does not explain that unsuitable bottles are rejected. Some details are inaccurate or unclear: bottles are not collected “from the dump” in the diagram, and the raw material is shown on a pallet rather than being added into sacks. The response also contains 121 words, below the required 150, which limits how fully you can report the stages. To improve, describe the sequence more completely and accurately, including how the loop returns from end products to the recycling bin.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The stages are presented in a broadly chronological order, and sequencing expressions such as “Initially,” “After,” and “the next step” help the reader follow the process. The opening also signals that the process is cyclical. However, the response has only two short body paragraphs and does not clearly separate the collection and sorting stages from the later manufacturing stages. Some links are awkward or incomplete, particularly “This the whole cyclic procedure,” and the final sentence does not explicitly connect the products back to the start of the cycle. Organise the description into a clear introduction and overview, followed by logically grouped stages, and use accurate linking phrases to show each transition.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant process vocabulary, including “compressing,” “crushing,” “washing,” “raw material,” and “end products,” which allows the main idea to be understood. However, the range is limited and several choices are inaccurate or unnatural for this diagram. “Map” is not the right term for a process diagram, “reutilizing” is less natural here than “recycling,” and “plastic pallets” appears to mean plastic pellets. “Sourcing bottles from the trash” and “added into the sacks” also do not describe the visual precisely. Aim for more exact process language, such as “collected,” “sorted,” “compressed into blocks,” and “processed into pellets,” while checking spelling and collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response uses mostly simple sentences, with a few attempts to connect stages using clauses such as “After washing the plastic pellets, the next step is heating pellets to make a raw material.” However, errors occur frequently and sometimes make the process difficult to follow. For example, “then they separated” is missing a passive verb, “it crushed” has an incorrect verb form, and “This the whole cyclic procedure” is missing “is.” There are also problems with articles and sentence construction in “The raw material of plastic then added into the sacks.” Use consistent passive forms for a process description—for example, “the bottles are sorted” and “the pellets are heated”—and proofread each sentence for a complete verb phrase.

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