Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-08-15

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)

Nowadays in many parts of the world it is common to see that people do not recycle their garbage as much as they could. For this situation there are several reasons behind it, and there are some solutions also to solve this problem. This essay will explain both causes and solutions indetails below.

One of the main reason of this issue is people do not have a proper understanding of recycling process. This means that they may not know which materials can be recycled and how to separate it to throw in a particular trashbin. For example, In India people generally throw all trash in one giant dustbin because they have no idea what trash in what bin such as wet trash and dried trash in separate bins. Second significant reason is that people are not aware with the health issues causes by rubbish. In other words people have no idea that not proper recycling processs may be affected an environment and it causes health issues like allergies, cold and cough.

There are some solutions which might works to solve this problems. One main solution is that goverments should educate people and provide more garbage bins to make recycling easier in a busy schedule. This is because it is duty of goverments to provide proper guidance and by providing more bins to individuals homes makes recycling easier, as a result people feel encourage to recycle regularly. Another powerfull solution is that goverment should make a strict and clear rules and if it is not followed by public properly they must charge fines to public. It is necessary because of that people can discourage careless disposal and encourage proper recycling.

In conclusion people do not recycle their rubbish properly in many countries and there are some reasons behind it such as they have no idea how to do it properly and they are not aware with the health related issues what they going to face. However behind these problems there are solutions which is goverments should provide proper informantion and more trashbin to make recycling easy, also strict rules and fines are required to make changes.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

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 government intervention through education and fines. However, the development is somewhat superficial. For instance, the discussion on health issues is a bit vague and could have been better linked to the broader environmental impact. While the position is clear throughout, the essay would benefit from more detailed examples or a more nuanced exploration of the challenges to reach a higher band.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into clear paragraphs, each with a central theme. There is a logical progression of ideas from the causes to the solutions. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'One of the main reason', 'Second significant reason', and 'In conclusion'. However, some of these transitions are a bit mechanical or repetitive. Additionally, there are minor issues with referencing and flow, such as the slightly awkward phrasing in the transition between the health issues and the proposed solutions. Overall, the paragraphing is appropriate and the structure is easy to follow.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the student to convey their ideas clearly. There are some attempts at less common vocabulary, such as 'discourage careless disposal', but there are also recurring errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'aware with' instead of 'aware of' and 'not proper recycling processs' instead of 'improper recycling processes'. Spelling errors like 'indetails', 'goverments', and 'powerfull' are present. While these do not impede communication, they limit the score as the range is not sufficiently precise or sophisticated.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement ('One of the main reason', 'goverments should educate'), article usage, and pluralization. For example, 'if it is not followed by public properly they must charge fines to public' is grammatically clunky. While the meaning is generally clear, the frequency of these errors prevents the essay from reaching a higher band. More attention to proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy would significantly improve the quality of the writing.

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

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