Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-09-03

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 5.5)

My country Malaysia, is one of the country which does not emphasie strongly on recycling so much.

In public area, it is not easy to find dustbin. People has to walk a mile or two in order to throw a piece of paper. People like me choose to ask permission from the shop owner to throw the rubbish in their shop. Due to inconvenient, people choose to throw at their convenient way. Some other developed country like New Zealand, their city council create the recycling awareness by putting the segregation of rubbish bin. Rubbish bin could be found easily. It could be reached from few steps walking distance.

If a country need the people to aware of recycling, government need to educate the people and create the conveniences.

Education is important to promote the awareness of recycling. In rural area, people has been doing the old fashion of packing the rubbish. They find it waste of time and inconvenient to segregate the rubbish. My mother said, just throw the rubbish to ensure the place doesn't get insect is good enough. Nevertheless, I do the recycling at home by collecting the paper and plastic to deliver to scrap metal shop. The benefit of doing so could get some money in return and at the same time doing the recycling as well. The unused clothes, I will send to charity centre who accept those.

Finally, government should promote recycling by educating people. I believe people is willing to cooperate to make our world beautiful.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: reasons for low recycling rates and potential solutions. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. While you mention the lack of infrastructure and the need for education, the arguments are often anecdotal (e.g., your mother's perspective) rather than analytical. To reach a higher band, you should expand on the 'why'—for example, discussing the lack of government policy or economic incentives in more depth. The position is clear, but the supporting evidence is thin, which prevents a more comprehensive exploration of the topic.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow your argument. However, the flow between sentences is often mechanical. You rely on simple transitions like 'Finally' and 'Nevertheless,' and some sentences feel disconnected, such as the jump from public bins to your mother's opinion. The use of cohesive devices is limited, and some referencing is unclear (e.g., 'Due to inconvenient' is grammatically incorrect and disrupts the logical flow). Improving the use of linking words and ensuring each paragraph has a clear topic sentence would significantly enhance the coherence of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

Your vocabulary is generally adequate to convey your meaning, but it lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. You use basic terms like 'good enough' and 'throw the rubbish,' which are repetitive. There are also some errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'create the conveniences' and 'doing the old fashion of packing.' To improve, try to incorporate more topic-specific vocabulary related to environmental issues, such as 'waste management,' 'infrastructure,' 'sustainability,' or 'segregation protocols.' Expanding your range of synonyms will help you avoid repetition and express your ideas more effectively.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Common issues include subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'People has to walk,' 'government need to educate') and article usage (e.g., 'In rural area,' 'the recycling'). Additionally, there are errors in word form, such as 'Due to inconvenient' instead of 'Due to the inconvenience.' While the meaning is generally understandable, these recurring errors suggest a lack of control over complex structures. Focusing on basic grammatical accuracy and proofreading for subject-verb agreement will help improve your score.

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.