Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-09-28

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 many countries, people usually do not recyle their rubbish as much as they could. People often don't care about their environment which is then beneficial for them. In my opinion, people must recycle their rubbish for better environment.

From my perspective, it is our duty to clean the environment and recycle waste material timely. Because if we don't take this problem seriously, it can many health problems. For example, exessive trash can cause pollution which can lead to many diseases like lung cancer, heart disease etc.

Secondly, some items are non decomposable. These can't be decompose even in many years. That's why it important to recycle such thinks. By recycling these things we can convert them into usefull items again and can be used. It is very usefull method to reduce trash as well as to reuse them.

What can be done to change this? mostly people don't know the disadvantages of rubbish. Hence, they spread trash without any headache. First of all government should educate people about harmful effects of trash. After this make strict rules for people who freely spread trash anywhere they want and fine them so that they take care for the next time. Contribution of both people and government is nessary to build healthy environment.

To sum up, I think in some countries people feel free while making environment dirty because of less polices. Furthermore government should focus on cleaning environment by own instead of rely on people. It is a duty of both government and people to clean environment however people must contribute with government.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses both parts of the prompt, discussing the reasons why people do not recycle as much as they could and suggesting solutions such as government education and fines. The student presents a clear position throughout the essay. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive. For instance, the discussion on non-decomposable items and health problems touches upon valid points but lacks extended, sophisticated elaboration and specific real-world examples. The ideas remain at a fairly general level, which aligns well with the Band 6 descriptor where relevant ideas are presented but are somewhat under-developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay is divided into logical paragraphs with an introduction, body paragraphs addressing the prompt's two questions, and a conclusion. There is a basic attempt at overall progression and organisation. However, cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or overused (e.g., beginning consecutive paragraphs with 'Secondly' and 'What can be done to change this?'). Furthermore, referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the sentence 'People often don't care about their environment which is then beneficial for them,' where the intended meaning is confused. Paragraphing is present, but internal cohesion lacks flexibility and natural flow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms such as 'non decomposable', 'pollution', and 'diseases'. However, there are numerous noticeable errors in word choice, spelling, and word formation (e.g., 'recyle' instead of 'recycle', 'exessive' instead of 'excessive', 'thinks' instead of 'things', 'polices' instead of 'policies', and 'nessary' instead of 'necessary'). While these errors do not completely impede communication, they restrict the lexical score to Band 5, as the control over less common vocabulary is weak and spelling mistakes occur frequently.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing conditional structures and relative clauses (e.g., 'Because if we don't take this problem seriously, it can many health problems'). However, grammatical accuracy is weak, featuring frequent errors such as missing verbs ('it can many health problems'), incorrect passive voice constructions ('These can't be decompose'), and incorrect word forms ('it important', 'both government and people'). Punctuation is also erratic at times. These frequent errors cause some difficulty for the reader and prevent the text from reaching a higher band.

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