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)

During the last few decades our planet became more polluted and dirty. Manufacturies, plastic and growth of the population are the main causes for this. Although, there are a lot of people in many countries who still don't do any effords to recycle their rubbish to get their environment cleaner.

In my opinion, two main reasons for this appearence. The first reason is a lack of knowlege about the threat. People don't understand the reasons of recycling and believe that this is something unnecessary to be done. Second reason is availiability. In many countries recycle bins are something very rare and can't be found in every corner. In this case, people need to make an effort to throw their plastic bottle to the recycle bin, when it is much easier to take it to a regular bin that placed nearby.

In order to change things and try to help our planet, few steps could be done. For example advertisment. Goverment could run on the TV channels some short advertisment about the high importance of the recycling. In this way, people would be encouraged and aknowleged about the risks that they personaly can prevent. Other helpful step is placing a lot of recycling bins in every possible spot. If the recycling proccess be easy, almost every person will take a part in it.

In conclusion, there are many countries where people do not recycle their rubbish, but this could be changed. If every person takes the responsibility on keep our planet cleaner, things could be changed in a positive way, and our children will grow in clean environment.

AI examiner evaluation

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 scarcity of infrastructure. However, the development is somewhat superficial. For instance, the suggestion to use 'advertisment' is a good starting point, but it lacks specific detail on how this would change behavior. The position is clear throughout, but the arguments could be extended with more concrete examples or deeper analysis to reach a higher band. Overall, the response is sufficient to address the task requirements.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. There is a basic progression of ideas from the introduction to the conclusion. However, the use of cohesive devices is somewhat mechanical and repetitive. For example, the transition between sentences often relies on simple connectors like 'The first reason' and 'Second reason'. While the paragraphing is appropriate, the flow between ideas could be improved by using a wider variety of linking words and better referencing to connect the arguments more fluidly.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks variety and precision. There are several spelling errors, such as 'Manufacturies' (manufacturers), 'effords' (efforts), 'knowlege' (knowledge), 'appearence' (appearance), 'availiability' (availability), 'advertisment' (advertisement), and 'aknowleged' (acknowledged). These errors are frequent and occasionally distracting. While the student attempts to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'recycling', 'rubbish', and 'environment', the range is limited. To improve, the student should focus on accurate spelling and incorporating more sophisticated collocations and academic phrasing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors. Examples include 'our planet became more polluted' (should be 'has become'), 'two main reasons for this appearence' (missing verb 'are'), 'recycle bins are something very rare' (should be 'recycling bins'), and 'If the recycling proccess be easy' (should be 'is'). Punctuation and article usage are also inconsistent. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to limit the score. The student needs to focus on subject-verb agreement and verb tense consistency.

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

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