Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-10-17

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)

Recycling isvery important for the world but in many countries of the world, people do not recycle their rubbish or garbage as much as they could. They just waste their rubbish in the bin.

There are various reasons behind this. The first is that, people are lazy and do not want to work hard for recycle the rubbish. There is more effort need for the recycling process. People do not recycle too much because they have also lack of the facilities for this process. For the sake of recycle the rubbish, people should throw the garbage in different bins. Like glass, paper and plastic. There are not much dustbins on the roads and in public places. So the people throw all kind of garbage in one dustbin. It is hard to seprate plastic and glass from one bin. Some people think this is not good for their health. There is aso lack of facilities in some countries. Heavy machines require for recycling the rubbish.

In many countries, people do not know the procedure of recycling rubbish. They do not know how to make a lot of things from waste plastic. Government should include this kind of knowledge in our curriculum. Teachers should learn their students about recycling. The second solution is that, there should be the three types of the dustbins with label in the streets and roads like: plastic, glass and paper. So that,it can be easy to recycle the rubbish and make useful things from it.

In conclusion, recycling is a good and useful aspect for the country. We should learn the procedure of it and make different kind of things from recycling.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the question: it gives reasons for low recycling, including limited facilities and lack of knowledge, and suggests education and labelled bins as solutions. These ideas are relevant, but they are only partly developed. For example, the point that people are “lazy” is asserted rather than explained, and the discussion of missing facilities repeats the same idea without showing how this affects recycling in practice. The proposed curriculum and bins are clear, but an example or explanation of how they would change behaviour would strengthen the response. The conclusion restates that recycling is useful but does not bring the main reasons and solutions together, so the overall position and ideas remain somewhat limited.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, a paragraph on causes, a paragraph on solutions, and a conclusion. This helps the reader follow the broad direction of the answer. However, progression within paragraphs is uneven, and some points are repeated: the lack of facilities is mentioned more than once, while the shift from people’s effort to public bins and health concerns is abrupt. Linking phrases such as “The first” and “The second solution” provide basic signposting, but the sequence can feel mechanical. Some connections are also unclear, as in “Like glass, paper and plastic,” which is left as a fragment. Group related causes together and use clearer transitions to show how each example supports the main point.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary is sufficient to communicate the main ideas, with relevant terms such as “recycling process,” “facilities,” “curriculum,” and “dustbins.” However, the range is limited and several words or phrases are repeated, especially “rubbish,” “recycle,” and “people.” Some choices are inaccurate or unnatural, including “waste their rubbish in the bin,” “for the sake of recycle,” and “learn their students,” which can make the intended meaning less clear. Spelling errors such as “seprate” and “aso” also reduce accuracy. Aim to use more precise collocations and vary repeated terms—for example, refer to “waste” or “household waste” where appropriate, and use “teach students about recycling” rather than “learn their students.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response mainly uses simple sentence patterns, with a few attempts to connect ideas using clauses, such as “because they have also lack of the facilities.” These attempts are often faulty, and frequent errors affect clarity. Examples include “people are lazy and do not want to work hard for recycle,” “There is more effort need,” and “Heavy machines require for recycling,” where verb forms and sentence construction are incorrect. There are also problems with articles, agreement, and punctuation, as in “the three types of the dustbins” and “So that,it can be easy.” Work on forming complete sentences and checking subject–verb patterns, articles, and infinitive or gerund forms. More accurate control of basic structures should come before adding complex ones.

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