Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-09-02

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 recent years, individuals are not prioritizing recycling process as much as they should, becoming a major issue for protecting the environment. This trend is driven by not only lack of awareness among people but also shortage of the time, and I believe, plenty of steps taken by authorities could assist people to follow such process.

First and foremost, lack of knowledge plays a crucial role behind this concept. To elaborate, nowadays, people are struggling with sorting things properly due to not knowing the proper terminology which take place in recycling the waste. In addition to that, in this contemporary world, people are spending their whole day in the offices to fulfill their necessities of their life. Consequently, they do not have enough time to follow such procedures. Despite knowing some major issues caused due to waster management, people are not paying attention to it because recycling is the time consuming in which individuals have to perform several step like sorting paper, plastic, metal and glass into a recycling bin followed by transporting everything to the related factories. Thus, people prefer to garbage their waster instead of recycling.

Nevertheless, authorities could take several steps in which they may offer incentives such as cash rewards, tax breaks, deposit return schemes which will promote people towards recycling. Moreover, government should run educational campaigns which enables people to obtain considerable amount of knowledge regarding benefits to the environment as well as whole process about how it works.

In conclusion, although lack of awareness and time consumption are significant factors behind this trend, government should encourage community by launching campaigns and plenty of incentives.

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, covering lack of awareness and time constraints, and suggesting incentives and education. However, the development is somewhat superficial. For instance, the explanation of why people struggle with 'terminology' is vague, and the suggestion of 'cash rewards' is mentioned without explaining how this would practically overcome the time-constraint issue identified earlier. To reach a higher band, the arguments need more depth and specific examples. The position is clear throughout, and the conclusion effectively summarizes the main points.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is logically organized into clear paragraphs, with an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'First and foremost', 'In addition to that', 'Consequently', and 'Nevertheless' are used to guide the reader. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and there are minor issues with referencing and flow. For example, the phrase 'behind this concept' in the second paragraph is slightly unnatural in this context. Paragraphing is used appropriately, and the progression of ideas is generally easy to follow, though the connection between the lack of time and the specific steps of recycling could be smoother.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The range of vocabulary is adequate for the task, with some attempts at less common items like 'incentives', 'deposit return schemes', and 'contemporary world'. However, there are several instances of awkward word choice and collocation errors, such as 'garbage their waster' (instead of 'throw away their waste') and 'shortage of the time'. Additionally, there are minor errors in word formation, such as 'time consuming' used as a noun phrase. While these errors do not impede communication, they prevent the response from reaching a higher band. A more precise use of environmental terminology would improve the score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the writer attempts complex sentences, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with articles ('the recycling process', 'the time', 'the proper terminology') and pluralization/agreement ('several step', 'waster management'). Some sentences are slightly clunky, such as 'recycling is the time consuming in which individuals have to perform several step'. Despite these errors, the meaning remains clear throughout. To improve, the student should focus on article usage and ensuring subject-verb agreement, as well as refining the structure of complex sentences to ensure they are error-free.

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

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