Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-09-30

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)

I strongly agree with the statement that, residents in many countries do not recycle their waste as much as they could.

The primary reason for not recycling their waste is lack of dustbin and waste area around their houses and street. This is because in many third world nations government don't spend enough on their country residents and don't provide basic facilities. For instance, in India people still use plastic bags and don't use bag made of cloth like develop countries are doing. This cause more amount of plastic being produced and due to lack of dustbins and proper waste systems in the cities people just throwing them on the road after using the plastic bags which cause environmental damage and reduce recycling of the waste.

Another significant reason is that, residents in countries like Pakistan, Nepal, India don't have knowledge and information about recycling their waste. In other words, they are unaware of this process. For example, in my hometown their was no proper dustbin, instructions and waste areas so people just through their waste on side of street and after one two months private dealers of waste comes and take that waste with them and recycle it and sell it to companies.

In conclusion, although this is very bad practice to not recycle the rubbish, I believe that this is the responsibility of government to educate their residents because ignoring recycling process can cause environmental damage and economical damage as well. So, my opinion is to educate residents first and then make rules and add fines for breaking rules to prevent throwing rubbish and don't follow the reycle process

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt, exploring the reasons why people do not recycle as much as they could (such as a lack of infrastructure, dustbins, and awareness) and suggesting solutions (such as government education, rules, and fines). However, the position is slightly confused at the beginning because the writer states, 'I strongly agree with the statement,' which is an unnecessary framing for a 'why and what' prompt rather than a purely agreement-based prompt. Ideas are generally relevant, but the development is somewhat repetitive, relying heavily on specific country examples without expanding fully into general principles. While the main aspects of the task are covered, the depth of explanation remains limited in places, aligning the response with a Band 5.5 to 6.0 level.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The essay is divided into paragraphs with a recognizable introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion, fulfilling a basic structural role. However, paragraphing and logical progression are hindered by abrupt transitions and mechanical cohesive devices. For instance, 'Another significant reason is that...' introduces the second body paragraph, but the internal cohesion within paragraphs is frequently disrupted by run-on sentences and unclear referencing, such as 'people just through their waste on side of street.' The transition between ideas lacks smooth logical flow, and paragraphs do not always maintain a singular, well-developed central topic. Overall, the organizational structure is visible yet flawed, fitting a Band 5.0 descriptor well.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student uses an adequate vocabulary for the task, touching on relevant thematic words such as 'environment damage', 'recycling', 'rubbish', and 'infrastructure'. However, there are numerous lexical and collocational errors throughout the text, including 'lack of dustbin' (instead of dustbins), 'bag made of cloth like develop countries' (developed countries), 'through their waste' (throw), and 'economical damage' (economic damage). Less common vocabulary is attempted with limited success, and these frequent word-choice errors, combined with spelling and morphological inaccuracies, mean the lexical range is restricted and occasionally strains the reader's comprehension, pointing firmly to a Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The text displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control over grammar is weak. There are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement ('government don't spend', 'dealer comes and take'), article usage ('a lack of dustbin', 'the reycle process'), and tense consistency ('their was no proper dustbin'). Complex sentence structures are often faulty, and punctuation errors are common, such as missing commas or unnecessary comma splices. While communication is generally maintained despite the errors, the high frequency of basic mistakes prevents the essay from reaching a higher band, making Band 5.0 the most accurate reflection of the student's current grammatical accuracy.

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

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