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, the rate of recycling remains disappointingly low despite growing environmental awareness. This essay will discuss the main reason for this and suggest effective measures to improve the situation.

There are two primary reasons why people fail to recycle. Firstly, a lack of convenience and infrastructure discourages recycling. In many areas, especially in developing countries like Pakistan, there are no separate bins for different types of waste, and recycling centers are located fae from residental areas. Consequently, people find it easier to throw all rubish into one bin. Secondly, there is a lack of awareness and motivation. Many individuals do not fully understand the environmental consequences of not recycling, such as pollution and landfill overflow. Without proper education in schools or campaigns, they see no personal benefit in taking the extra effort to sort their waste.

To adress this issue, grovernments and authorities should take two concrete steps. The most effective solution is to make recycling easier and more rewarding. Aurthorities should provide color-bins foe different types of rubbish like plastic, glass and organic waste.

In conclusion, people do not recycle enough mainy because of inconvenient facilities and insufficient awareness. By improving infrastructure with incentive scgemes and educating the public, governments can significantly increase recyling rates. In my view its most important to recycle the plastic.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the task by identifying reasons for low recycling rates (such as a lack of convenience, infrastructure, and awareness) and proposing solutions (such as providing color-coded bins and incentives). However, the word count is 218 words, which falls significantly short of the required 250-word minimum. This under-length impacts the development of ideas, leaving the conclusion abrupt with a somewhat simplistic final statement ('In my view its most important to recycle the plastic'). While the ideas are relevant, they are not fully extended due to the length restriction, which caps the score for this criterion at Band 5.5.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a clear overall structure with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate ideas. Cohesive devices are employed to connect points, such as 'Firstly', 'Secondly', and 'Consequently'. However, referencing and transitions are sometimes basic or slightly mechanical. Logical progression is generally maintained within paragraphs, though the abrupt ending and lack of full development in the conclusion affect the overall flow. Cohesion is adequate for a Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, incorporating topic-related terms like 'environmental awareness', 'infrastructure', and 'landfill overflow'. However, there are multiple noticeable spelling and typographical errors throughout the text, such as 'fae' instead of 'far', 'residental' instead of 'residential', 'rubish' instead of 'rubbish', 'adress' instead of 'address', 'grovernments' instead of 'governments', 'Aurthorities' instead of 'Authorities', 'foe' instead of 'for', 'scgemes' instead of 'schemes', and 'recyling' instead of 'recycling'. These errors reflect a lack of careful proofreading and constrain the lexical score to Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'In many countries, the rate of recycling remains disappointingly low despite growing environmental awareness.' There is a reasonable attempt at complex structures using subordinate clauses. However, grammatical accuracy is undermined by punctuation and basic structural issues, such as missing apostrophes ('its most important'). While many sentences are clear and understandable, the frequency of spelling mistakes and minor structural slips keeps the overall accuracy at a Band 5.5 level.

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