Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-08-17

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 4.0)

In many cities, people are spending less time with their families because they are working longer hours and have increasingly busy lifestyle. What problems can this cause, and what solutions can you suggest?

In many urban areas, hectic living style and preferring more time on jobs can give less time to individuals to spend with their loved ones. However, this can weaken the relationship bonds between the family members as well as it could lead the emotional stress to the children, while this problem can be mitigated by fixing the working schedule and maintaining the professional and personal life.

Although, people have busy lifestyle due to workload these days and they have less time for their spouses and children which causes the differences in between the families

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response3.0
Coherence and Cohesion4.0
Lexical Resource4.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy4.0
Overall4.0

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 3.0

The response is significantly under-length, failing to meet the 250-word minimum requirement. Furthermore, the content is entirely off-topic. The prompt asks about recycling habits and how to improve them, but the essay discusses family dynamics and work-life balance. Because the response does not address the prompt at all and is severely underdeveloped, it fails to meet the basic requirements of the task. The ideas presented are irrelevant to the question provided, resulting in a very low score for task achievement.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0

The essay is very short, consisting of only two brief paragraphs. While there is a basic attempt at logical progression, the lack of development and the failure to address the prompt make it difficult to evaluate coherence in a meaningful way. The use of cohesive devices is minimal and somewhat mechanical, such as the use of 'However' and 'Although'. The structure is insufficient to demonstrate a clear, logical flow of ideas, as the essay ends abruptly before any real argument can be developed.

Lexical Resource — Band 4.0

The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive. Phrases like 'hectic living style' and 'relationship bonds' are used, but the range is very limited. There are instances of awkward phrasing, such as 'preferring more time on jobs' and 'lead the emotional stress to the children', which indicate a lack of precision and control. The vocabulary is sufficient only for very simple communication and does not demonstrate the range required for higher band scores.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0

The grammatical range is limited to simple and some basic complex structures. There are several errors in sentence construction and word order, such as 'it could lead the emotional stress to the children' and 'causes the differences in between the families'. Punctuation is also inconsistent, with a missing full stop at the end of the text. While the meaning is generally understandable, the frequency of errors and the lack of structural variety prevent a higher score.

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

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