Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-07-25

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In many countries, people do not recycle their rubbish as much as they could.

Why do you think this is?

What can be done to change this?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 6.5)

It is often argued that numerous countries are not following the recycling practice as much as they could. The primary driver behind this case is a lack of environmental knowledge in this modern society. The government and individuals play a vital role in minimising this problem. This essay will discuss the reasons behind this issue before examining the mitigation strategies.

One of the major reasons why people are not recycling as much as they could is due to the lack of environmental awareness. This is because in this fast-paced era, people who are continuously shifting their focus to pursue their dreams, while neglecting environmental practices which are essential for long span survival. Many youngster for example, working in large organisation including firms indulge themselves into workplace tasks and are often unaware about reusable practice, which they can perform while working. As a result, due to this unawareness people and industries consistently dumping waste without knowing the consequences, which directly leads to global pollution such as soil, marine and air pollution. Hence, it is vividly clear that the greater the environmental awareness, the lower the pollution to protect the ecosystem.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.5
Lexical Resource6.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy6.5
Overall6.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 250 words, as it is only 189 words long. This significantly impacts the development of the response. While the introduction sets up the essay well, the body paragraph only addresses the first part of the prompt (reasons) and completely omits the second part (what can be done). Because the second half of the task is not addressed at all, the response is incomplete. To improve, you must ensure you address every part of the prompt and expand your ideas with more detailed explanations and examples to meet the length requirement.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay shows a logical progression of ideas within the single body paragraph. You use cohesive devices such as 'This is because', 'For example', and 'As a result' to link your thoughts. However, because the essay is incomplete and lacks a second body paragraph to address the second part of the prompt, the overall structure is underdeveloped. Paragraphing is present, but the lack of a conclusion and a second body paragraph limits the coherence of the overall argument. Ensure you structure your essay into clear paragraphs for each main point.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'mitigation strategies', 'environmental awareness', and 'ecosystem'. There are some minor issues with word choice and collocation, such as 'long span survival' (should be 'long-term survival') and 'youngster' (should be 'youngsters'). You also use 'dumping waste' correctly in context. To reach a higher band, try to incorporate more precise academic collocations and ensure that your word forms are consistently accurate throughout the text.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are some grammatical errors, such as 'Many youngster for example, working in large organisation' (should be 'Many youngsters, for example, working in large organisations') and 'unaware about reusable practice' (should be 'unaware of recycling practices'). While these errors are noticeable, they do not generally impede communication. To improve, focus on subject-verb agreement and the correct use of plural nouns. Increasing the variety of complex sentence structures will also help improve your score in this criterion.

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