Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-11-01

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)

Humans do not reuse their debris as much as they should, In many nations. The main reason of not recycling the waste is this people are addicted to new things. Government should take releveant steps to tackle this problem so that this trend can be changed.

In my perception, it has become a habit of people to use new items day by day whether there are plastic bags, grocery bags plastice boxes. When individuals go to grocery stores to buy grocery that do not bring their old grocery bags with them, that buy nes bags from the store. While coming to home they through those bags. This has become a daily habbit of some people. They do not want to use old items in their day to day life.

I think that the officials of the country shold make rules againg throwing the thing that can be easily recycled. They should installed camers survillienc in every street to capture the people who trash the items. governmebt should impose fine on people, like $500 per person. In this way people can be aware and they will dare to throw the plastice bags, bottles and many thindgs that can be reprocessed.

If i talk about japanese, there is rule that people can not through plastic bags in the streets. There is a punishment of fine on individulas who break the rules. That is why in think that it is the appropriate step for the government to make rules in tyhe country.

To conclude, people are not reprocessing their wate because they have become to use and buy new things these days. This trend can be solved if govenment can take steps and make rules against this scenerio.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
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 the habit of buying new bags and items as a reason for low recycling, and propose government rules, surveillance and fines. The examples of grocery shopping and Japan make the response relevant, and your position—that stronger enforcement could change behaviour—is clear. However, the explanation of why people avoid recycling is quite narrow and is not fully developed; for instance, you could explain whether convenience, limited facilities or lack of awareness also contributes. The proposed measures are specific, but the Japan example focuses on littering in streets rather than recycling rubbish, so its connection to the question needs to be made clearer. Develop and support these ideas more fully to address all aspects with greater depth.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph explaining a cause, two paragraphs about solutions, and a conclusion. This makes the main line of argument easy to follow. You also use basic linking expressions such as “In this way” and “To conclude” to signal relationships between ideas. However, some connections are mechanical or unclear. For example, “In my perception” does not clearly introduce the cause, and the shift to Japan in a separate paragraph feels abrupt because its relevance is not explained. The conclusion repeats the introduction rather than drawing the cause and solution together. Use clearer references and transitions, and connect each example explicitly to the point it supports.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “recycling,” “plastic bags,” “impose fine” and “reprocessed.” There are also attempts at more specific language, such as “surveillance” and “individuals.” However, the range is limited and several inaccurate word choices or collocations make parts less natural, including “reuse their debris,” “addicted to new things” and “make rules against this scenario.” Spelling errors such as “relevent,” “survillienc” and “govenment” are noticeable and can slow the reader. Choose more precise expressions for waste and recycling, and check spelling carefully. Building a wider set of natural collocations will help you express the ideas more clearly and flexibly.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mixture of simple sentences and longer structures, including a conditional purpose clause in “so that this trend can be changed” and a relative clause in “items that can be easily recycled.” The main meaning is generally recoverable, but errors in sentence construction, verb forms, agreement and punctuation occur across the response. For example, “the main reason … is this people are addicted” needs a grammatical link such as “is that,” while “They should installed” requires “should install.” In “When individuals go … that do not bring,” the subject and verb pattern is unclear, and several sentences begin with lowercase letters or run together. Practise accurate clause formation and modal verb patterns, then proofread sentence boundaries and punctuation.

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.