Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-10-20

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, recycling has become a major debetable topic in the modern society. The number of people opt to recycling has been declining for many reasons such as lack of recycling centre and lack of awareness. the combine efforts of governments and individuals would required to combate these problem. This essay will discuss the reasons and solutions in the following paragraphs.

One of the major reasons behind the aprroach is that the lack of recycling centres.In many remote areas where there is limited facilities for recycling garbage such as plastics and metals.which resulted in the increase in the waste send to the landfills. For example, many countryside areas, where they may not have enough recycling centre or if they have it, they might be outside of the residential areas, where poeple required specific transportation. As a result, people may not reach to the facilities and they refuse to do it even they have desire to do it.

There are many ways to solve this problem, one of the best solutions is that government can provid enough facilities and impove the infrastructure to promote recycling. By implementing stricter rules and regulation, government can improve the rate of recycling. For example, if the government provide enough transportation facilities or build centres in remote areas they can facilitate the recycling. Moreover, campaing and seminars on the awareness about the effects of not recycling waste can improve the ratio of people recycle their watse.

In conclusion, there are many possible reasons behind the reduction in the number of people recycling even they could, but with the help of government pollicies and facilities can facilitate the recycling.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both parts of the question: you identify limited access to recycling centres as a reason and suggest government facilities, transport, regulations, and awareness campaigns as solutions. Your examples about remote and countryside areas help make the access problem relevant. However, the explanation of why people recycle less is narrower than the task allows: lack of awareness is mentioned in the introduction but not developed in the body, and other possible barriers are not explored. The solutions are also listed more than explained; for instance, you could show how a campaign or a specific rule would change household behaviour. Develop each main idea with a clear cause-and-effect explanation and a supporting example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure, with an introduction, a paragraph on causes, a paragraph on solutions, and a conclusion. The progression from the difficulty of reaching facilities to possible government action is easy to follow, and linking phrases such as “For example,” “As a result,” and “Moreover” help connect points. This meets the lower-band expectations securely and shows some features of stronger organisation. To make the flow more consistently smooth, avoid abrupt or incomplete transitions: “which resulted in the increase…” is not a complete sentence and interrupts the explanation. Some links are also mechanical, particularly repeated uses of “For example” and “Moreover.” Use clearer references and connect each solution directly to the problem it addresses.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “recycling centres,” “landfills,” “infrastructure,” and “stricter rules and regulation,” so the reader can understand the main subject and proposals. However, the range is limited and several noticeable spelling, word-form, and collocation errors reduce precision, such as “debetable,” “aprroach,” “watse,” and “the number of people opt to recycling.” Some phrases are also unnatural, including “the ratio of people recycle their waste.” These errors do not prevent understanding overall, but they make the writing less clear and fluent. Build a reliable set of topic collocations and check spelling and word forms carefully; for example, use “the proportion of people who recycle” rather than “the ratio of people recycle.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a conditional example beginning “if the government provide…” and a cause-and-effect sentence with “As a result.” However, control is inconsistent, and errors in sentence boundaries, agreement, articles, and verb forms sometimes make the reader pause. For example, “which resulted in the increase…” is a fragment, while “the combine efforts … would required” lacks a correctly formed verb phrase. In “many remote areas where there is limited facilities,” the subject and verb do not agree. Aim to produce complete sentences and check each clause for a clear subject and correctly conjugated verb. More accurate control of these structures would make your ideas easier to follow.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.