Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-08-05

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)

In many countries, people throe away large amount of rubbish, instead if recycling it, even though recycling can reduce environmental damage. There are several reasons to this situation, including lack of awareness and inconvenient recycling facilities. However, government and individuals can take a number of steps to encourage better recycling habits.

One major reason why people do not recycle enough is that, they are not aware of the importance of it. Some people may not understand how recycling can reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills and save natural resources. another reason is that, recycling can sometimes be inconvenient. For example. if separate bins for plastic, paper and glass are not available near people's homes, they may simply put all the rubbish in one bin. In addition, some people believe that recycling takes too much time, especially when they have to separate different types of rubbish.

There are several ways to address this problem. Firstly, government should provide clearly labelled recycling bins in residential areas, schools and public places. This would make recycling easier and encourage people about this habit. Secondly, schools and the media can educate people about the benefit of recycling through campaigns and simple educational programmes. For instance, children could be taught hoe to separate household waste and they could encourage their parents to follow the same practice. In addition, government can also offers a reward or discounts to households that regularly recycle their rubbish.

In conclusion, people often fail to recycle because they lack awareness and they do not have easy excess to suitable facilities. Government can improve this situation by providing convenient recycling facilities, educating people and offering incentives. With these measures, recycling will become the part of their daily life.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: reasons for low recycling rates and potential solutions. The ideas are relevant and clearly presented, such as the lack of awareness and the inconvenience of current systems. The solutions provided, including government intervention and educational campaigns, are logical and directly address the problems mentioned. The position is clear throughout the essay. To reach a higher band, the development of ideas could be more extensive; for instance, providing a more specific real-world example of a successful recycling policy would strengthen the argument. Overall, the response is well-focused and meets all requirements of the task.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Each paragraph has a central theme, and the progression of ideas is easy to follow. Cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Secondly', 'In addition', and 'In conclusion' are used effectively to link sentences and paragraphs. However, there are minor issues with punctuation and sentence structure that occasionally make the flow feel slightly mechanical. For example, the comma usage in 'One major reason why people do not recycle enough is that, they are not aware...' is unnecessary. Despite these minor slips, the overall structure is coherent and the paragraphing is appropriate.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task and allows for clear communication of ideas. You use some topic-specific vocabulary such as 'landfills', 'natural resources', and 'incentives'. However, there are some spelling errors ('throe' instead of 'throw', 'hoe' instead of 'how', 'excess' instead of 'access') and minor collocation issues ('encourage people about this habit'). To improve, you should aim to use a wider range of less common lexical items and ensure greater precision in word choice. While the current range is sufficient to convey your meaning, it lacks the sophistication required for a higher band score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While you successfully use complex sentences to explain cause and effect, there are recurring grammatical errors that slightly detract from the quality of the writing. Examples include 'There are several reasons to this situation' (should be 'for'), 'government should provide' (missing article 'the'), and 'government can also offers' (subject-verb agreement error). Punctuation is generally functional, but there are instances of incorrect comma placement. The errors do not impede communication, but they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score in this category.

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

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