Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-08-12

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)

Nowadays, in many countries people do not consider recycling their waste materials enough because they do not really care about the environment impact that the future generations would face.

These days people are so much into fast fashion and using whatever new product gets launched in the market. This leads to them having huge amount of clothes and products that are no longer of any use to them. Therefore, the cycle of throwing away all these old products and getting many more new trendy things, increases the amount of waste and plastics that go everyday to landfills. Furthermore, People carelessly have increased the use of plastics through water bottles, straws etc. Also, They are very busy dealing with their daily work-life balance and stress, that they forget about their surroundings and the environment they are living in. Moreover, Instead of collecting all unwanted items and later giving it somewhere for recycling, they throw it all away in order to keep their house free of all rubbish.

One of the best solution would be to donate things at thrift stores nearby and to poorer cities with people who are in need of daily essentials. In addition to this, government should build organisations which would do daily campaigns promoting reduce, reuse and recycle. People should take initiatives to start separating their waste materials, for instance, throwing green waste in one bin and other materials like plastics, take out boxes in other bins, in order to have good environmental impact. Moreover, they should avoid using plastic straws and bottles that end up in landfills, instead they should use paper made items that are biodegradable and recyclable. Government officials should introduce new plans like building machines where, once a person gives 20 plastic bottles for recycling, they get a dollar back. This would really encourage the community to take part in recycling.

In conclusion, People these days do not really think about recycling their unnecessary items is important because of their busy schedules and everyday stress. Nevertheless, Countries should take proper actions to prevent that, by uplifting the amount of recycling taking place and should focus on decreasing the overall waste that comes everyday to landfills as this will affect the upcoming generations.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: reasons for low recycling rates and potential solutions. The ideas are relevant, such as the impact of fast fashion and the suggestion of government-led incentive programs. However, the development is somewhat uneven. While the solutions are practical, the explanation of why people do not recycle could be more deeply explored beyond 'busy schedules' and 'stress'. The position is clear throughout, and the essay maintains a consistent focus on the topic, meeting the requirements for a Band 6.5 or 7.0 level of development.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized into clear paragraphs, each with a distinct focus. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Furthermore', 'In addition to this', and 'In conclusion', which help guide the reader. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and there are instances where the flow between sentences could be smoother. For example, the transition between the discussion of fast fashion and the mention of plastic bottles is a bit abrupt. Overall, the paragraphing is appropriate and the progression of ideas is logical.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the writer to convey their ideas clearly. There are some attempts at less common vocabulary, such as 'biodegradable' and 'initiatives'. However, there are some minor inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'uplifting the amount of recycling' (which is not a standard collocation) and 'environment impact' (should be 'environmental impact'). The range is sufficient to discuss the topic, but it lacks the precision and flexibility required for a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is always clear, there are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation. Common issues include incorrect article usage (e.g., 'the government should build organisations'), subject-verb agreement, and unnecessary capitalization (e.g., 'People', 'They'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with comma usage. Despite these errors, the communication is not impeded, and the range of structures is sufficient to support the arguments presented.

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.