Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-09-18

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 6.0)

In several countries, citizens do not recycle their waste upto the capacity they could. There can be various reasons behind not recycling their waste that can be listed for this reason such as lack of awareness, their attitude towards waste management, laws regarding waste disposal and many more. Measures and reasons for this will be presented further in this essay.

A lot of countries face problems to manage their waste and further this leads to increase in land and air pollution. Despite of having the mechanism for recycling citizens do not recycle. This can happen when citizens do not holds accountability for their waste. They thinks that waste collection and recycling is the duty of government but it is opposite. Another can be absence of strict laws regarding the disposal of waste in public spaces. Recycling is a very effective and efficient way to deal with rubbish and should be practised by citizens of every country like Singapore does, it is recognised as a country which recyles its waste by 100%.

This problem can be addressed by creating awareness about the benifits of recycling and harms of not doing it. Additoinally imposing heavy penalties for littering and not disposing waste properly can help. Furthermore, authorities should also take part in this and provide different dustbins for different kind of waste or adding vending machines like some of Europian countries have in which, in exchange of plastic bottles citizens will be rewarded money.

In conclusion, recycling is very effective and efficient way to deal with rubbish. Various countries should implement policies like Singapore and Europe to deal with their waste and creating awareness about the positive impacts of recycling can lead to better results in managing pollution and waste.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by explaining why people do not recycle as much as they could and suggesting measures to change this. The student presents a clear position and outlines causes such as lack of awareness, negative attitudes toward waste management, and absence of strict laws. Solutions like public awareness campaigns, heavy penalties, and deposit-return schemes are also discussed. However, some ideas lack deep extension and specific examples tend to be brief, such as the mention of Singapore and European countries. This places the performance firmly in the Band 6 category, where all parts are addressed, but some ideas are slightly under-developed or general.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is arranged into four paragraphs with a clear introduction and conclusion. Ideas are generally coherent, and the progression is understandable. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. For instance, the transition 'that can be listed for this reason such as' in the introduction is awkward and repetitive. Referencing and cohesive devices are used, but sometimes inaccurately or unnaturally, such as 'Another can be absence of strict laws' missing an article and 'Additoinally' having a spelling error that disrupts the flow. Paragraphing is present and appropriate for a standard essay structure, supporting an overall coherent arrangement that aligns with Band 6 descriptors.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student displays an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms such as 'waste management', 'disposal', 'penalties', and 'incentives'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'upto' instead of 'up to', 'benifits' instead of 'benefits', 'Additoinally' instead of 'Additionally', and 'Europian' instead of 'European'. Additionally, phrasing like 'does not holds accountability' exhibits grammatical collocation errors. The vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey the message, but inaccuracies prevent it from reaching a higher band, making Band 6 an accurate reflection of the lexical control demonstrated.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over structure. For example, conditional-like meanings and relative clauses are attempted. However, frequent grammatical errors occur, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('citizens do not holds'), missing articles ('absence of strict laws'), and awkward phrasing ('problems to manage their waste' instead of 'problems managing their waste'). Punctuation is generally acceptable, and while these errors are noticeable, they rarely impede overall communication. This mix of successful simple structures alongside faulty complex ones matches the Band 6 descriptors.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.