Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-09-19

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 7.0)

In modern times, individuals do not recycle as much household waste as they could, despite growing awareness of environmental problems. This is mainly because recycling can be inconveinent and many people lack sufficient knowledge about how tp seperate waste correctly. However, governments and communities can take several effective measures to encourage more responsible recycling.

To commence with, one major reason for low recycling waste is a lack of awareness. To expand, some people do not understand the environmental consequences of throwing recycle materails into general waste. For instance, plastic bottels and packaging can remain in landfills for decades, contributing to soil and water pollution. In addition, recycling may seem inconvenient when households have to separate different types of rubbish or travel a considerable distance to recycling facilities. If recycling bins are unavailable or collection services are irregular, people are even less likely to develop this habit.

Several measures could be introduced to address these problems. First, governments should provide convenient recycling facilities in residential areas and ensure that separate bins are collected regularly. Clear labels and simple instructions could also help residents understand which materials belong in each container. second, governments could launch educational campaigns through schools, television and social media to explain the long-term benefits of recycling. Financial incentives may also be effective. To illustrate, households could receive small rewards or reductions in local taxes for consistently recycling their waste.

To recapitulate, inadequate awareness and the inconvenience of recycling are two important reasons why people fail to recycle sufficiently. By improving public education, making recycling facilities more accessible and introducing appropriate incentive, governments can encourage people to recycle regularly and reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response fully addresses all parts of the prompt, investigating both the reasons why people do not recycle as much as they could and proposing viable solutions to change this. Your position is clear from the introduction and maintained throughout the essay. The reasons provided—such as a lack of awareness and perceived inconvenience—are clearly explained and supported with relevant examples, including plastic bottles in landfills and the role of accessible collection bins. The solutions are practical and directly correspond to the issues raised, covering public education, infrastructure improvements, and financial incentives. Ideas are well-developed and extended appropriately across the body paragraphs, fulfilling the criteria for a strong band score.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay displays a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. Each paragraph has a distinct central topic, moving smoothly from the introduction to the reasons, the solutions, and a concise conclusion. Cohesive devices are used effectively to guide the reader, such as 'To commence with', 'In addition', and 'To illustrate'. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, separating the causes and solutions into distinct sections. While referencing and substitution are generally well managed, some minor transitional phrasing feels slightly formulaic, keeping this criterion at a solid band 7.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

You demonstrate a sufficient range of vocabulary for the task with some flexibility and precision. You successfully use less common items and subject-specific collocations such as 'environmental consequences', 'landfills', 'infrastructure', and 'financial incentives'. However, there are a few noticeable spelling errors and typos, such as 'inconveinent', 'tp', 'seperate', 'recycle materails', and 'bottels'. These occasional lexical and orthographic inaccuracies prevent the vocabulary score from reaching higher bands, though they do not impede overall communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 7.0

The essay uses a good mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including conditional clauses ('If recycling bins are unavailable...') and relative clauses. There is a frequent presence of error-free sentences, and your control of grammar and punctuation is generally good. However, a few grammatical slips and typos occur, such as 'low recycling waste' instead of 'low levels of recycling' or 'low recycling rates', 'second' starting a sentence with a lower-case letter, and 'appropriate incentive' missing a plural 's'. These minor errors are typical of Band 7 performance.

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

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