Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-08-21

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 6.0)

It is believed that in most of the nations, individuals rarely recycle their household waste. Lack of awareness about recycling and the high cost of recycling might be reasons for it. In order to mitigate this problem, providing financial incentives and running awareness campaigns by the government can help.

In many parts of the world, people are unaware of the recycling process. Consequently, instead of doing recycling, they just throw their household waste and garbage. Thus, it can be one of the reasons for people not to recycle. Secondly, recycling is a high-cost process, so everyone cannot afford it. For instance, in India more than 70% of the people of its population are living below the poverty line. Thus, it is impossible for them to spend money after recycling. Therefore, because of these reasons, in many countries, people fail to recycle.

In order to tackle this issue, the authorities should run public awareness campaigns about recycling. To explain it further, awareness campaigns and advertisement are the only way to teach people about recycling and its benefits to our environment. Another solution is by providing financial incentives, we can include more and more people to participate in recycling. For example, in Japan, the authorities provide $100 per recycle and tax relief to some extent to those who recycle their garbage.

In conclusion, although people are uneducated about recycling and its benefits, by running campaigns and providing financial bonuses and support, we can change this trend and make our environment more clean and livable.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: reasons for low recycling rates and potential solutions. The ideas are relevant, such as lack of awareness and financial barriers, and the solutions provided are logical. However, the development is somewhat limited. For instance, the claim that recycling is a 'high-cost process' for individuals is a generalization that could be better explained or nuanced. While the response covers the requirements, the depth of analysis is somewhat basic, preventing it from reaching the higher bands. The position is clear throughout, and the structure is appropriate for an IELTS essay.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is organized into clear paragraphs, each with a central theme. There is a logical progression of ideas from the introduction to the body paragraphs and the conclusion. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Consequently', 'Thus', and 'In order to tackle this issue', which help guide the reader. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical or repetitive, and the referencing is occasionally simplistic. Overall, the paragraphing is sufficient and the flow of information is easy to follow, meeting the requirements for a Band 6.5 or 7.0 level of organization.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express ideas clearly. There are some attempts at less common vocabulary, such as 'mitigate' and 'incentives'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'spend money after recycling' (should be 'on') and 'make our environment more clean' (should be 'cleaner'). The range is sufficient to communicate the message, but it lacks the flexibility and precision required for a higher band score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent minor errors in grammar and punctuation. For example, 'instead of doing recycling' is awkward (should be 'instead of recycling'), and 'everyone cannot afford it' is slightly unnatural in this context. There are also issues with article usage and prepositional phrases. Despite these errors, the grammatical control is sufficient to ensure that communication is not impeded, which is consistent with the Band 6 descriptor.

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

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