Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-08-14

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 most countries, people do not recycled their wastes sufficiently. This happened because there are poor knowledge on refuses disposal and decrease in the number of companies that recycles. The solutions to decrease in recycling are educating people and establishments of recycle law.

The principal reasons behind the decline in the rates waste recycling are inadequate knowledge on how to discarded some waste and limited number of companies are into recycling process. People treat waste such food particles, bottles, paper and nylon same ways because they are not enlighten on how to dispose them properly and this has led to greater percentage in disorganization in waste disposal. Secondly, most nations doesn’t have companies that make use of solid waste, so this has led to people been inconsiderate about recycling. For instance, if there are a lot of industries that convert empty plastic bottles into a useful, citizen will have understand on how useful some of their refuse can be. Therefore people tends to show negative attitude towards their recycling because they don’t see the economical benefit of it.

This issue can be resolved by enlightening the public about waste and establishment of rules that will protect important solid waste. Firstly, governments and private institutions should organize programs and campaigns that can help people to understand how valuable is their waste. Through these means people will have proper knowledge on how to handle their waste. Secondly, the legislature bodies of a country should establish laws that will protect recycling and punishment should also be attach. People always show positive attitude when a situation is guided by law. For example, a lady that is about to discards an empty coke bottle will retract from her action because of the punishment attached to that behavior.

In conclusion, Negative attitude towards recycling are caused by lack of insight on proper refuse disposal and insufficient number of companies are convertion of waste. This can be resolved by organizing a public health education and establishing a law against poor recycling.

AI examiner evaluation

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

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: reasons for low recycling rates and potential solutions. The ideas are relevant, such as the lack of public awareness and the need for legislative action. However, the development is somewhat superficial. For instance, the explanation regarding the lack of companies is a good point, but it lacks depth. The conclusion summarizes the main points effectively. To reach a higher band, you should expand on your examples with more specific details or real-world evidence to fully develop your arguments.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into clear paragraphs, each with a distinct focus. You use basic cohesive devices like 'Firstly', 'Secondly', and 'In conclusion' to guide the reader. However, some transitions are mechanical, and the flow between sentences is occasionally interrupted by grammatical errors. Referencing is sometimes unclear, such as in the phrase 'this has led to greater percentage in disorganization'. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring that pronouns clearly refer back to their antecedents would enhance the logical flow of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'legislature bodies', 'inconsiderate', and 'disorganization'. However, there are several instances of incorrect word forms and awkward collocations, such as 'poor knowledge on refuses disposal' instead of 'refuse disposal' or 'waste management', and 'convertion of waste' instead of 'conversion'. Some phrasing is repetitive, and the word choice is occasionally imprecise. To improve, focus on learning the correct noun/verb forms and common collocations related to environmental topics.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Common issues include subject-verb agreement ('most nations doesn’t have', 'people tends to show'), incorrect verb tenses ('people do not recycled'), and article usage. While you attempt complex sentences, they often contain errors that affect the accuracy of your expression. Focusing on basic grammatical accuracy, particularly subject-verb agreement and verb forms, will significantly improve your score.

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

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