Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-10-12

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 many countries people don't recycle their rubbish as much as they can. Today i will discuss why i tthink this happens and i will also discuss what we can do to change this.

Firstly i think people don't recycle their rubbish as much as they can because people are lazy and therefore they will rather just throw everything in ons rubbish bin rather than to sort it in four different types of bins like non-recycable items, recycable items, garden waste and general waste.

Secondly towns that are far from cities battle to recycle thwir rubbish, becasue you need to pay lots of money to transport you rubbist to a waste management centrum in the city. People don't have money to so this and therefore they don't recycle that much.

There is a few things that we can do to cahnge this. Firstly we can educate people about the advantages of recycling. i feel as soon as people knows the advantages they will also recycle more.

We can send big recycling trucks to smaller towns to go and pick up the recycable.items and then i know more people will make use of recycling.

i also feel that everything starts at school and when a school motivates children to recycle they will also get their families invlove and before you know it, you inspired a entire city.

i feel recycling is really i.portant to make sure we look after mother earth. I feel is is our responsibility to ensure a bright future for our children and the only way we can do this is to reduce our carbon foot print.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both parts of the question: you identify convenience and the cost of transporting rubbish as reasons for low recycling, then suggest education, collection trucks and school-based motivation. These are relevant and your position—that recycling matters for the environment—is clear. The explanation of transport costs is a useful, specific cause, while the suggestions about education and schools are less fully developed: explain how education would change habits or how collection services could be organised. The claim that people are “lazy” is relevant but broad; a more precise explanation, such as confusion about sorting rules or lack of convenient facilities, would strengthen it. Overall, the response covers the task, but some ideas need clearer support and development.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, two paragraphs explaining causes, a section proposing solutions, and a concluding statement. Sequencing words such as “Firstly,” “Secondly” and “There is a few things” help readers follow the main stages, and the ideas generally progress logically. This meets the lower-band expectation for coherent organisation and shows some of the clearer progression associated with stronger performance. However, transitions are sometimes mechanical, and several solution ideas appear as separate short paragraphs without being linked or grouped. The repeated “i feel” in the final section also makes the conclusion less cohesive. Use a wider range of linking expressions and connect each proposed action explicitly to the problem it addresses.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

Your vocabulary is sufficient to communicate the main ideas, with relevant terms such as “waste management,” “recycling trucks,” “advantages” and “carbon footprint.” However, the range is limited and several words or phrases are repeated, especially “recycle,” “rubbish” and “i feel.” There are also noticeable spelling errors, including “recycable,” “becasue” and “cahnge,” as well as awkward or inaccurate expressions such as “waste management centrum” and “get their families invlove.” These errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the overall message, but they reduce precision and sometimes make the wording difficult to follow. Build a more varied set of topic-specific terms and check spelling and collocations carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more extended sentence forms, including a reason-and-result structure in “People don't have money to so this and therefore they don't recycle that much.” The main ideas are usually understandable, but grammatical control is inconsistent. Examples include “people knows” instead of “people know,” “There is a few things” instead of “There are a few things,” and “i feel is is our responsibility,” where the sentence structure breaks down. Some sentences also need clearer punctuation or more accurate clause construction. To improve, check subject–verb agreement, articles and sentence boundaries, and practise building complex sentences accurately before adding further clauses. More consistent control would make your explanations easier to read.

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