Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-09-01

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 several countries, individuals do not recycle as much household waste as they could. This is serious environmental issue, and the lack of public awareness and recycling facilities could be considerable reasons. However, Government and individuals can tackle this issue by organizing public campaign and regular wastage collecting services in the areas.

To commence with, one major reason for this problem that is public awareness. Several citizens do not understand the consequences of throwing wastage in the open areas as they do not recycle them in separate bin and thrown the garbage in the general bin. For example, they thrown plastic bottle, can and papers in the same bin because they are unaware that the wastage could be reused. Similarly, individuals are also not accessible to recycle facilities. In several areas there are not enough recycle bins and collecting service, which inconvenient for local communities to recycle their wastage.

To tackle this issue, government should raise public awareness through campaign in school, workplace and media. People should be taught how to separate different types of wastage and why recycling is crucial for environment. Furthermore, Locale authorities should provide recycle bin in different residential areas. In addition, government can introduce final incentives, such as rewards for households that recycle regularly and imposing fine for excessive waste.

In conclusion, the low rate of recycling is mainly caused by insufficient awareness and inadequate recycling facilities. providing better awareness, enhanced facilities for recycling bin and introducing incentives could encourage people to recycle more and reduce the amount of waste to landfills.

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 incentives. However, the development is somewhat superficial. For instance, the explanation of why people do not recycle is repetitive, and the solutions could be more deeply explored with specific examples or logical consequences. While the position is clear throughout, the essay would benefit from more detailed elaboration to reach a higher band, as some points are stated rather than fully developed.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized into clear paragraphs, each with a distinct focus. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'To commence with', 'Furthermore', and 'In conclusion', which help guide the reader. However, the use of these devices is sometimes mechanical or slightly repetitive. Additionally, there are minor issues with referencing and flow, such as the sentence 'This is serious environmental issue', which lacks an article. Despite these minor lapses, the progression of ideas is generally easy to follow, and the paragraphing is appropriate for the task.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing the student to communicate their ideas clearly. There is an attempt to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'landfills', 'incentives', and 'residential areas'. However, there are frequent errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'wastage collecting services' instead of 'waste collection services' and 'not accessible to recycle facilities' instead of 'do not have access to recycling facilities'. These errors do not impede communication, but they limit the range and precision of the language used.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, particularly with articles ('This is serious environmental issue'), verb tenses ('they thrown plastic bottle'), and pluralization ('provide recycle bin'). While the meaning remains clear, these persistent errors in basic grammar and sentence construction prevent the essay from reaching a higher band. The student should focus on subject-verb agreement and the correct use of articles to improve accuracy.

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

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