Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-09-14
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 5.0)
People often do not realise the importance of recycling. In various countires, waste are not recycled as much as it could be. In this essay, I will discuss the reason behind the of lack of awareness and what actions can be undertaken by the government to encourage more individuals to recycle their rubbish.
Not many people recycle their waste due to lack of knowledge of how to separate their waste and dispose them. Moreover, individuals find it easier to simply dump all the garbages in one bin rather than separating them into different bags. Even in public spaces, for instance, the government have kept different dustbins for each category of waste such as one for each general waste, recycling waste, batteries and more. People always get confuse as to in which bin they are suppose to throw the waste. Therefore, it is very important to create awareness among people.
b2 - government should up with stringent measures such as school education and seperate recyliing bins in residential buildings
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 4.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 4.5 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.5
The response attempts to address both parts of the prompt, discussing why people do not recycle and suggesting government interventions. However, the task achievement is severely compromised by the length requirement not being met; the response contains only 168 words against the 250-word minimum. Furthermore, the text is incomplete, trailing off with fragmented bullet-point style notes at the end ("b2 - government should up with stringent measures..."). While the ideas presented regarding lack of knowledge and confusion over public bins are relevant, they are underdeveloped and lack full elaboration. Due to the significant under-length penalty and incomplete conclusion, the score reflects minimal acceptable development for this length constraint.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The essay begins with a standard introduction and a body paragraph that attempts to link ideas using cohesive devices such as "Moreover" and "Therefore." However, the overall progression breaks down completely towards the end, where the essay dissolves into fragmented notes rather than structured paragraphs. Paragraphing is mishandled because the concluding thoughts are not written in full prose. Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as "dispose them" where the pronoun lacks a clear singular/plural agreement with "waste." Progression is limited due to the abrupt halt of the text.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary for addressing a familiar topic, using terms like "awareness," "stringent measures," and "category of waste." However, there are noticeable lexical errors and awkward collocations, such as "In various countires, waste are not recycled" (plural/singular mismatch and misspelling of countries) and "dump all the garbages" (uncountable noun used as plural). The vocabulary is repetitive in places, relying heavily on basic terms like "waste" and "people." Attempts at less common vocabulary, such as "stringent measures," are present in the final notes but remain undeveloped. Communication is generally maintained despite these errors.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.5
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional or subordinate clauses ("In this essay, I will discuss..."). However, grammatical accuracy is weak throughout the text. There are persistent errors in subject-verb agreement and pluralisation, notably "waste are not recycled" and "the government have kept" (treating government as plural incorrectly). Other errors include preposition misuse and confusion with verb forms, as seen in "People always get confuse as to in which bin they are suppose to throw the waste." Complex structures frequently contain errors, and the final section is entirely ungrammatical and incomplete.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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