Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-09-04

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)

It is argued that in many countries around the world, people do not recycle their trash as much as they could.

This essay will discuss the main reasons of this development, and its impact on people's health and the environment.

On the one hand, a large number of people who live in the thired world, do not recycle their garbage as much as they could, due to many reasons, the lack of awarness amoung individuals, povrety and the absance of rules inside the country. For instance, a recent study conducted by Harvard University shows that India has the highest amount of rubbish in the world, due to the poverty of local people, and the lack of awarness amoung individuals, they are unaware of the risks of this garbage on people's health and environment.

On the other hand, the waste have a strong negative impact of the environment and people's health, For example, the present of non recycled rubbish on the street, can affect human being health, causing several chronic illnesses such as severe crises, breathing issues, and some auto-immune deases.

Additioanlly, it has several disadvantages on the environement and animals. Plastic waste can affect the pollution of the sea, which can cause the death of many fishes in the sea. Furthermore, it may also have a negative consequences on the nature, it can lead to the burning of many trees and animals, which can affect the human being directly.

To sum up, although many countries do not recycle their rubbish, governments should put severe rules to prevent this, and raise awarness amoung people of the risks of the non recycled waste on people's health.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The essay addresses both parts of the prompt: reasons for low recycling rates and potential solutions. However, the development is uneven. While you identify reasons like poverty and lack of awareness, the second body paragraph shifts focus to the impact of waste rather than focusing on the 'what can be done' part of the prompt. The solution is only briefly mentioned in the conclusion. To improve, ensure that the second body paragraph is dedicated entirely to solutions, such as government policy, education, or infrastructure, rather than repeating the negative effects of pollution.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. You use some cohesive devices like 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'Additionally'. However, some transitions are mechanical or slightly misused, such as 'This essay will discuss the main reasons of this development, and its impact', where the second part of the sentence introduces a topic not requested by the prompt. The logical progression is sometimes hindered by the shift in focus in the second paragraph, making the overall flow feel slightly disjointed.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

There is a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey your ideas, but there are frequent spelling errors that detract from the quality of the writing, such as 'thired', 'awarness', 'amoung', 'povrety', 'absance', 'deases', and 'Additioanlly'. These errors are noticeable and suggest a lack of proofreading. While you attempt to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'chronic illnesses' and 'auto-immune', the repeated spelling mistakes and some awkward collocations (e.g., 'the present of non recycled rubbish') limit your score in this criterion.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Examples include 'the waste have a strong negative impact of the environment' (subject-verb agreement and preposition error) and 'the present of non recycled rubbish on the street, can affect human being health' (incorrect word form and punctuation). While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to suggest a lack of control over complex structures. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and correct article usage would significantly improve your accuracy.

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

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