Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-10-05

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)

Nowadays, in many countries people do not often recycling their rubbish as much as they can. I believe that there are many reasons behind this along with solutions. This essay will discuss the reasons and solutions behind this trend.

The first reason behind this is lack of knowledge. To elaborate, many people want to recycle their garbage for gardening purpose but due to lack of information they are unable. For instance, people do not have informatio about the rubbish that it recyclable or not, also about the recycle process. Furthermore, another reason is lack of time. To explain, many people have a hectic shedule and they do not have enugh time for this, such as they are busy to complete their daily tasks and doing 9 to 5 jobs. As a result they do not recycle their litters. Moreover, many people have health issues. For example they are allergetic and they can not touch the rubbish because it can be a health problem for them like they can got rashes on their skin.

To tackle this problem, there are many solutions. The first solution is public awareness. To elaborate, for recycling the rubbish Government take many actions, such as public campiegn can be a solution. Government can promote campiengs and can provide information to public that how garbage can be harmful for our health if we will not recycle this. Apart from this, individal can learrn on internet the recycling process that how we can coverted the rubbiush intp compost.

Thus it can be concluded that due to lack of information and time individuals are unable to recylcle their garbage, while to takle this problem they can learn by internett to make compost from litters and they can make a shedule for this.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing both the reasons why people do not recycle as much as they could and potential solutions. A clear position is maintained throughout the essay. However, some ideas are more fully developed than others, which places the response in this band. For example, while the reasons regarding lack of knowledge and lack of time are introduced and supported with examples like '9 to 5 jobs', the point about health issues is slightly underdeveloped and relies on limited examples like 'rashes on their skin'. Similarly, the solutions section outlines public awareness and learning via the internet, but these points lack further extension with concrete details. To reach a higher band, all ideas would need to be thoroughly explored and supported with more robust, extended examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion, successfully meeting the requirements of the lower band while showing glimpses of the higher band through basic logical progression. Information and ideas are generally organized logically, with paragraphing used to separate the introduction, reasons, solutions, and conclusion. However, cohesion can feel somewhat mechanical and repetitive, relying heavily on formulas like 'The first reason behind this is' and 'To elaborate'. Referencing and transitional phrasing are sometimes awkward, such as 'Apart from this, individal can learrn on internet'. To achieve a higher band, the writer needs to employ a wider and more flexible range of cohesive devices without overusing repetitive transitional templates, ensuring smoother progression between sentences.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, demonstrating enough range to communicate basic ideas about recycling, rubbish, and government campaigns. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary, such as 'hectic schedule', 'public awareness', and 'compost', but these attempts are accompanied by noticeable errors in word choice, word form, and spelling. For instance, the student writes 'recycling' as 'recycling their rubbish as much as they can', uses 'informatio' and 'campiegn' (spelling errors), and writes 'coverted the rubbiush intp' (word form and spelling errors). These errors do not seriously impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score. To improve, the writer must expand their vocabulary range and improve accuracy in spelling and word forms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response features a mix of simple and some complex sentence forms, such as 'Although many people want to recycle their garbage for gardening purpose...'. There are some structures attempted with relative success, but the text contains a number of errors in grammar and punctuation. These include verb form and agreement issues ('people do not often recycling', 'they can got rashes'), article omissions ('due to lack of information'), and prepositional errors. Fortunately, these errors rarely impede overall communication. To move to a higher band, the writer needs to demonstrate a greater variety of complex structures with improved accuracy, producing more error-free sentences throughout the response.

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.