Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-11-13

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 various countries, people do not recycle their wastes as often as they should, and i believe it is mainly because they do not realise the necessity of waste managment, therefore people should be encouraged to recycle more .

One of the reasons people do not recycle much, is their unawareness of how negatively poor waste management is affecting their dailylife, excessive waste amounts, if not collected and recycled correctly would be filling the streets and our water sources, which will not only results in polluting the enivronment and deteriorating green spaces, but may additionally cause serious health issues due to unclean water consumption.

One way to tackle this issue, is to encourage people to properly and more often recycle their wastes and that can be done by facilitating the process so that people do not look at it as a challenging task, for example, providing more recycling bans in various areas, with informative instructions and pictures so that young people and elderly can easily understand and correctly recycle their wastes. In addition, advertising can also be used to attract people's attention to this matter, if more ad

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify a relevant cause—people’s lack of awareness—and suggest practical responses, including making recycling easier and using advertising. However, the task is only partly addressed: the explanation of why people do not recycle is brief, and the proposed measures are not fully explained. For example, you mention recycling bins with instructions, but do not show how these would change behaviour or give a specific example. The final point about advertising is cut off, leaving one solution incomplete. The response also does not meet the required minimum length, so there is limited space to develop and support your ideas. To strengthen the answer, explain the cause in more depth and complete each solution with a clear example or expected result.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic, recognisable structure: an introduction, a paragraph about a cause, and a paragraph proposing solutions. Linking expressions such as “One of the reasons,” “for example,” and “In addition” help signal the relationship between ideas. However, progression within the paragraphs is sometimes difficult to follow because several points are joined into long sentences, and the final sentence stops at “if more ad,” disrupting the ending. Some connections are also unclear, particularly where the explanation of health effects moves quickly from waste to water consumption. Use shorter sentences to separate the cause, its consequences, and each solution, and finish with a brief concluding statement. This would make the organisation more complete and the links between ideas clearer.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “waste management,” “recycled,” “polluting the environment,” and “health issues,” which allows the reader to understand your main points. There are also attempts at more specific phrasing, such as “facilitating the process” and “informative instructions.” However, spelling and word-choice errors reduce precision: “managment,” “enivronment,” and “recycling bans” (apparently meaning bins) are noticeable, while “recycle their wastes” is repeated and sounds unnatural. “Daily life” is also written as one word. Aim for accurate, natural collocations and vary repeated terms—for example, use “household waste” or “recyclable materials.” Proofreading spelling and checking that each noun accurately names the intended object would improve clarity.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt complex sentences, including a conditional structure (“if not collected and recycled correctly”) and a purpose clause (“so that people do not look at it as a challenging task”). These show some range, but long sentences are not consistently controlled. For instance, the sentence beginning “excessive waste amounts” joins several clauses without clear boundaries, and “which will not only results” has incorrect verb agreement and form. There are also punctuation problems, such as unnecessary commas after introductory phrases (“One of the reasons people do not recycle much, is…”). The final sentence is incomplete, so it does not demonstrate a finished grammatical structure. Break complex ideas into complete sentences, check subject–verb agreement and verb forms, and review comma placement.

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