Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

It is undeniable that few developed nations are recycling their rubbish as much as they can. However, in many countries, people are still not recycling their garbage due to circumstances like inadequate facilities. I will explain their reasons behind it and will also suggest some changes they can make in the upcoming paragraphs.

To begin with, there are a plethora of reasons why many people are not recycling their rubbish. The first and foremost reason is limited facilities. To explain it more clearly, many nations have less or limited equipment and therefore, they can not make use of these equipment for recycling at everywhere. Another reason can be corruption. In many counties, leaders take the allocated fund of recycle into their pockets. Due to that, many cities do not get those funds for facilities in order to recycle. Furthermore, some people do not have knowledge about the recycling process and they just dump it anywhere. Hence, these are the possible reasons I think why people do no recycle their garbage.

However, there are some ways to change it. Firstly, the government should build some facilities for the recycle. For example, many European countries have a special type of machine which takes recycle stuff and some of them even pay to people. Moreover, their bottle have special type of cap that can not be removed. Secondly, some countries like India are still not using separate bins for the garbage. With this type of bins, it would be easy to recycle rubbish. Lastly, one thing every nation can do is make people aware of drawbacks of garbage and benefits of recycling.

To conclude, the main reason behind not doing the recycle is limited availability of facilities, corruption and limited knowledge about recycle process. The government needs to make some strict rules to change this.

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 the mention of inadequate infrastructure and corruption. However, the development is somewhat superficial. For instance, the point about corruption is introduced but not fully explained in terms of how it directly impacts recycling habits. Similarly, the solutions provided are practical but could be expanded with more detail or specific examples to reach a higher band. The position is clear throughout, but the overall development of ideas lacks the depth required for a higher score.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is organised into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the argument. There is a logical progression from the reasons to the solutions. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'To begin with', 'Furthermore', and 'Firstly', although some transitions feel a bit mechanical or repetitive. The referencing is generally clear, though some sentences are slightly disjointed. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the different parts of the task, which contributes to the overall coherence of the response.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks variety and precision. There is some repetition of basic terms like 'recycle', 'rubbish', and 'facilities'. While the student attempts to use some topic-specific vocabulary, such as 'allocated fund' and 'drawbacks', the phrasing is sometimes unnatural (e.g., 'recycle stuff' or 'make use of these equipment'). The range is sufficient to communicate the message, but it does not demonstrate the flexibility or sophisticated control of less common lexical items expected at higher bands.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'they can not make use of these equipment' (equipment is uncountable), 'in many counties' (likely meant 'countries'), and 'their bottle have' (subject-verb agreement). While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher band score. The control of punctuation is generally acceptable, but the overall grammatical accuracy is inconsistent throughout the text.

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

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