Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-08-31

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, many countries do not recycle their latter as much as possible. This could be mainly because of lack of awareness and inconvenience. To avoid this situation government can provide better recycling facilities and education to public and students.

One of the main reasons is that many people do not have clear idea about recycling the waste. This means that individuals do not understand how excessive rubbish can affect to the environment. For example, people just throwing garbage to the environment without knowing the consequences. As a result, they do not give much attention to this matter. Another reason is inconvenience. Recycling facilities can be limited and separating garbage can be take extra time and effort. For example, people have to allocate more time to divide latter to plastic, paper and food waste.

One solution to avoid this situation is provide proper education about recycling. Government and teachers can educate the society and students about the positive impact of recycling. For instance, government can organize workshops to increase the public awareness about recycling while teachers can educate children to throw garbage properly. Moreover, authorities can provide better facilities to public. They can keep separate garbage bins in the cities and provides convenient collection service. This can encourage many people to throw their rubbish properly.

In conclusion, lack of awareness and inconvenience are the main problems which cause the poor recycling system in many countries. Therefore, I believe that government can provide best facilities and proper education about the recycling to change this situation.

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, covering lack of awareness and inconvenience as causes, and education and infrastructure as solutions. However, the development is somewhat basic. For instance, the explanation of 'inconvenience' could be expanded with more specific examples of how urban planning or waste management systems fail to support citizens. While the position is clear throughout, the response stays at a general level, lacking the depth of analysis required for a higher band. The ideas are presented logically, but they would benefit from more detailed elaboration to fully satisfy the 'well-developed' criteria of higher bands.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized into clear paragraphs, each with a central theme. There is a discernible progression of ideas from the introduction to the conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'For example', 'As a result', 'Another reason', and 'Moreover' are used to link sentences and ideas. However, the use of these devices is sometimes mechanical or repetitive. Additionally, there are minor issues with referencing and flow, such as the awkward phrasing 'latter' used instead of 'rubbish' or 'waste'. Despite these minor flaws, the paragraphing is appropriate and the overall structure is easy to follow, meeting the requirements for a coherent response.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the student to communicate their ideas clearly. However, there are noticeable errors in word choice, such as using 'latter' to refer to 'rubbish' or 'waste', which is incorrect in this context. Other phrases like 'have clear idea' (missing an article) and 'affect to the environment' (incorrect preposition) indicate a limited range of collocation. While the student attempts to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'recycling facilities' and 'public awareness', the range is somewhat restricted. To improve, the student should focus on using more precise terminology and avoiding repetitive or misused words.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Examples include 'government can provide' (missing article 'the'), 'can be take' (incorrect verb form), 'provide proper education' (missing article), and 'affect to the environment' (incorrect verb-preposition combination). Punctuation is generally functional, but the frequency of these minor errors prevents the writing from reaching a higher band. The student demonstrates an ability to construct complex sentences, but the control over these structures is inconsistent, leading to errors that, while not impeding communication, are noticeable.

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

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