Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-11-05

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)

Recycling is the process of collecting, sorting and reprocessing used materials into new products. It plays vital role in protecting enviornment from waste and trash.

In so many countries people recycle less than they could because of lack of awareness, facilities, time and motivation. Its a bad habit. They should reuse their things instead of throwing them away and keep their enviournment safe and clean. Many people do not understand the importance of recycling or its benefits for the enviournment.

People do this beacuse of lack of time or lack of education. Some people are not taught how to reuse their things correctly and some people are too busy with their work or school or in other avtivities to recycle properly. Some people are so careless that they throw all the rubbish without thinking about recycling.

Government and individuals should work together to encourage recycling and protect the enviornment. Government should provide facilities, create awarness,offer rewards, educate students, and make strict laws while individuals should develope responsible habits. By working together they can reduce pollution, save natural resources and create clean and healthy environment.

Once in our school, our principle oraganised recycling competition. there were different kind of activities like classroom cleaning challenge in which students have to collect as much waste as they can in a week or a month and the team that had more trash won the competition. And there was a competition about creating different things from rubbish. I think these activities encourage students to do better for their environment and keep their areas, classroom and house safe and clean from poluution

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions: you identify limited awareness, time, education and motivation as reasons, then suggest government facilities, education, rewards and laws alongside individual responsibility. The school competition is a relevant example that helps illustrate how activities can encourage recycling. However, several points are listed rather than explained in depth. For instance, you say people lack awareness but do not show what information or benefits they need to understand; similarly, the effects of rewards or stricter laws are not developed. The example is useful, but its connection to wider community recycling could be made clearer. Develop fewer ideas with specific explanations and examples, and make the relationship between each proposed action and the problem explicit.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has an identifiable overall shape: it introduces the issue, discusses reasons, proposes actions and ends with a school example. This gives the reader a basic route through the answer. However, the progression is not consistently clear because reasons and general comments are repeated across the first two body sections, and the final example arrives without a clear link to the preceding recommendations. Some connections are also abrupt, such as “Its a bad habit” after the list of causes. Use focused paragraphs, each with a clear main point, and connect the school example explicitly to education or incentives. More precise linking and referencing would make the organisation easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “recycling,” “facilities,” “natural resources,” “pollution” and “responsible habits,” so the main ideas are generally understandable. There are also attempts at more specific language, such as “collecting, sorting and reprocessing.” However, the range is limited by repeated words and phrases such as “people,” “things,” “clean and safe,” and “environment.” Several spelling errors are noticeable, including “enviornment,” “beacuse,” “awarness” and “poluution,” and some expressions are imprecise, such as “do better for their environment.” Check spelling carefully and choose more exact collocations; this will make the argument clearer and more natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use mostly straightforward sentence patterns and attempt some longer structures, including “Some people are not taught how to reuse their things correctly and some people are too busy…” and the sentence beginning “Government and individuals should work together.” These attempts communicate the main meaning, but control is uneven. Errors include the missing article in “It plays vital role,” the sentence fragment “Its a bad habit,” and the incorrect construction “the team that had more trash won” in the description of the competition. There are also problems with sentence boundaries and punctuation, such as the run-on ending after “poluution.” Practise accurate articles, complete sentences and punctuation, then build longer sentences with clear clause relationships.

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

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