Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-09-16

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)

In few continents, people do not recycle their garbage as much as they could because of various reason including less awareness, undeveloped societies, and Government not making changes in their system. However, if officials make strict laws against these people can make a noticable change in the system.

First and foremost, people not aware about difference in recyclable or non-recyclable rubbish which makes them put everything on non-recyclabe garbage. Moreover, Governments are not initiating for making new rules for rubbish which can aware ordinary people of nation. In addition to this, some rural areas are very undeveloped and garbage bins are not available in these societies. For instance, in South asia multiple countries do not have specific rules for seperating recycle rubbish.

However, Government of these coutries can make a garbage oriented laws in which they can include the awerness of different kinds of rubbish as well as start imposing minimal fines on concerned individual whoever is not following the rules and as a result, people will start seperating the garbage according to their categories. For example, in my own experience Government of Canada made a clear categories of garbage including food waste goes to green bags, recycle rubbish goes to blue bags, and non-recyclable goes to black bags, for awareness officials also uploaded the categories on their official website with examples.

In conclusion, although people of many countries are not properly aware about the difference between garbage categories and because of less rules made by their Government. But in my experience, officials can start making specified laws for recycle rubbish, make the people of nation aware about it, and if still someone not following the rules start imposing them a fine.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses both parts of the prompt, exploring the reasons why people do not recycle as much as they could (such as lack of awareness, undeveloped infrastructure, and absence of government rules) and suggesting measures to change this (such as strict laws, public awareness campaigns, and fines). The position is generally clear throughout the essay. However, some ideas are underdeveloped and rely on over-generalisation, such as stating that 'multiple countries do not have specific rules' or that rural areas universally lack bins. Examples are provided, such as the Canadian system, which supports the second part of the task well. These characteristics align best with Band 6.0, as all parts are addressed with relevant ideas, though some lack full extension.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a recognisable introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate ideas. However, cohesion is frequently faulty or mechanical. Words like 'However', 'Moreover', and 'In addition to this' are used, but logical transitions between sentences can be awkward, as seen in the transition from 'garbage oriented laws' to the example of Canada. Referencing is not always clear, and some sentences lack smooth internal linking, such as the concluding sentence which is grammatically incomplete and falters in progression. Overall, the organisation is logical enough to follow easily, supporting a Band 6.0 score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, touching upon relevant topics like 'recyclable', 'non-recyclable', 'infrastructure implied through undeveloped societies', and 'fines'. However, there are numerous word choice and collocation errors, such as 'garbage oriented laws' instead of 'waste management legislation', 'less awareness' instead of 'lack of awareness', and spelling errors such as 'noticable', 'recyclabe', 'seperating', 'coutries', and 'awerness'. While these errors do not severely impede communication because the writer's intent remains clear, they restrict the lexical score to a Band 5.5, as the errors are noticeable and occur frequently across the response.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some variety through conditional structures ('if officials make strict laws... can make a noticeable change') and relative clauses. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly missing articles ('Government of Canada' instead of 'the Government of Canada'), subject-verb agreement issues ('people not aware', 'Government... are not'), and awkward phrasing. The final sentence is a long, grammatically fragmented run-on sentence that breaks down structurally. Because these errors occur frequently and can occasionally cause some difficulty for the reader, the response fits the Band 5.0 descriptor well.

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

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