Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-08-22

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 a number of countries, citizens do not give enough importance to recycling as they should. This essay will elucidate the driving factors of the trend such as lack of awareness and tricky recycling process along with some solutions like organizing informational events and providing incentives to tackle this problem.

To commence with, the main reason why people do not recycling their rubbish is that there is lack of awareness about recycling. To elaborate, since they are unaware of the benefits of recycling, they do not take it seriously. In many countries such as India, recycling is not a common word because of the poor publicity by the civic bodies. As a result, people do not recycle their waste. For example, people in India throw all their waste in a single bin without segregating recyclable items in a different bin. In addition to this, countries where people are aware of the recycling benefits, they think that recycling is a cumbersome process. Hence, they only recycle to a certain extent.

The address the second question, few steps can be taken to fix above issues. The primary one is that governments should organize regular awareness camps across their countries to educate people about recycling benefits. Moreover, they can also penalize individuals for not recycling the waste. To exemplify, nowadays garbage collectors is my society make an announcement for which type of waste they will collect. They have separate days for plastics, dry and organic wastes. Furthermore, They can also provide diverse colour dustbins for different types of rubbish. They can also reward citizen for regularly recycling their waste as this will motivate them to recycle more.

To conclude, this essay has discussed that lack of knowledge about recycling and believing that it is a tough process are the reason why people do not recycle enough whereas also provided solutions such as organizing awareness camps and distributing rewards for achieving recycling targets.

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 and clearly presented. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, the explanation regarding why recycling is considered a 'cumbersome process' is brief and lacks depth. While the essay provides examples like the situation in India and the use of separate bins, these could be expanded to better illustrate the points. The position is clear throughout, and the essay follows a logical structure, meeting the requirements for a Band 6.5 or 7.0, but it lacks the depth of development required for a higher band.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the two main questions. Cohesive devices such as 'To commence with', 'In addition to this', and 'To conclude' are used to link ideas, although some transitions feel slightly mechanical. The progression of ideas is generally clear, though the connection between the lack of awareness and the specific example of India could be smoother. Overall, the text is easy to follow, and the logical flow is maintained throughout the response.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing for clear communication. There are some attempts at less common vocabulary, such as 'elucidate', 'segregating', and 'cumbersome'. However, there are also some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'poor publicity by the civic bodies' (which should be 'lack of public awareness campaigns') and 'garbage collectors is my society' (which should be 'in my society'). The range is sufficient to convey the intended meaning, but the lack of precision in certain phrases prevents a higher 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 several grammatical errors that occur throughout the text. Examples include 'people do not recycling' (should be 'do not recycle'), 'The address the second question' (should be 'To address'), and 'garbage collectors is my society' (should be 'in my society'). Additionally, there are minor punctuation and capitalization errors, such as 'Furthermore, They'. These errors do not significantly impede communication, but they are frequent enough to prevent a higher band score.

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

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