Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-09-23

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)

There are quite a few countries around the globe where people do not re-use items that they have already used. The number of reasons for society to not recycle their rubbish are quite a handful.

One of the most major and leading cause of this issue is the background of the country where people live in. Not every landmarks on Earth are well developed and majority of the source where rubbish aren't recycled are from countries which are currently under the status of underdeveloped or developing. In many underdeveloped countries, the lack of technological advancements are vast. In most of the cases, there aren't sufficient gadgets which would assist people in recycling things. A tin can for example can be recycled and may be transformed into various items like a mosquito coil stand or sharp blades perhaps. However there arent enough factories with proper machineries which can transform these used cans into new items. People usually just throw out their rubbish and it just eventually ends up into the pile of rubbish where pollution is created.

As people continues to not re-use their re-usable items, a trend is created. The elder generation is responsible to educate the younger generation about how to keep the Earth clean but if they are the ones not recycling items, how will the new generations gain knowledge? A lot of potential is being wasted like this. People with habits tend to stick to their habits. Lack of knowledge is another cause as to why people do not recycle items.

In order to change the society into becoming a more organised and eco friendly cultured, governments of various countries around the world could invest their money to provide proper education and some life hacks on how to properly recycle items which can be easily recycled. For example a government body from a developing or under-developed country could set up campaigns about recycling tips in an attractive manner which would automatically make the young mind wonder what these campaigns are about and get into the campaigns and educate themselves on how to recycle items and to teach the upcoming generations.

Food chain or any companies which uses items which are not decomposable could come uo with creative ideas to make buyers want to re-use their packagings. For example Coke could make their coke cans designs more aesthetic which would make consumers not want to throw away their cans and keep them to themselves for future use. Coke could also add some information about various ways how a can of coke can be recycled in the back of the can.

In conclusion, people's habits has to be changed and technological advancements must be introduced to certain countries in order to increase the rate of society recycling their rubbish.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses both parts of the task: why people do not recycle as much as they could, and what can be done to change this. The writer presents clear ideas regarding underdevelopment, lack of infrastructure, and habits, and offers solutions involving government campaigns and corporate responsibility. However, some ideas are a bit repetitive or lack full academic depth, such as the example of using Coke cans as a mosquito coil stand or aesthetic decoration, which borders on informal or unrealistic examples for an academic task. Nevertheless, all parts of the prompt are addressed with a clear position throughout, aligning well with the Band 6.5 or Band 7 descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay is divided into logical paragraphs, with an introduction, body paragraphs addressing causes and solutions, and a conclusion. There is a clear overall progression. However, cohesion is at times mechanical or faulty, as seen with transitional phrases like "As people continues to not re-use..." and some referencing issues ("where rubbish aren't recycled are from countries which..."). Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate causes from solutions, but logical transitions between sentences can feel slightly abrupt. This fits the Band 6 profile well.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as "technological advancements", "underdeveloped", and "eco friendly cultured". However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors throughout the text, such as "leading cause of this issue is the background of the country", "Not every landmarks on Earth", and "come uo with creative ideas". Word form errors also occur, such as "cultured" instead of "culture". These inaccuracies do not impede communication, placing the response firmly in the Band 6 category.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing conditional clauses and relative clauses. However, grammatical errors are frequent. Subject-verb agreement issues are prominent, such as "The number of reasons... are quite a handful", "majority of the source... are", and "people's habits has to be changed". There are also punctuation and minor tense inconsistencies (e.g., "As people continues"). While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the message, they restrict the score to a Band 5.5 because error-free sentences are not in the majority.

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