Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-10-24

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 helps to keep our environment clean and health. It is argued that in many countries, recycling is not properly being handled, and people are not reusing it as much as they should. This essay will discuss what the reason behind this statement and what can be done to improve situation.

Recycle of waste material like plastic water bottles are not maintained in proper way. As, people can use them again by refilling them. But beside using them again, they trash the bottles into the bins. Not only, this results into the increasing of garbage but also plastic waste will increase. As plastic is very harmful and not easy to decompose. Furthermore, reuse of some unwanted waste like cardboard boxes should also be given priority. Most of the items nowadays arrives in the cardboard boxes such as online order packaging and industrial items. These boxes can be reused to pack the items or can be collected and send back to packaging companies.

Government should organize the awareness program where they should explain different ideas of recycling of plastic bottles. For example, plastic bottles can be used to make a plant pot by cutting from the bottom side. There are many other ways where people can reuse plastic bottles. If reusing is not possible then plastic waste should be properly managed by make two different bins, one for regular waste and other for plastic waste. People should also encourage by themself and participate in maintaining waste, also authorities should award some people who maintained the waste properly by giving some amount of money. So, more and more people will encourage to do so to get rewards.

In conclusion, recycling of waste like plastic and cardboards are much necessary as it helps to reduce waste and government should encourage people by reward some cash. As people should also needs to maintain waste from their side. Both contributions can reduce waste and helps to keep environment clean.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both parts of the question: the essay identifies reasons people fail to recycle, including throwing away reusable bottles and cardboard, and proposes awareness campaigns, separate bins and rewards. These are relevant, practical ideas, and the bottle-to-plant-pot example helps illustrate one solution. However, the response does not clearly explain the broader reasons for low recycling beyond people discarding items, so the causes are less fully developed than the proposed actions. Some points also need clearer explanation—for example, how returning cardboard to packaging companies would work, or why people do not already separate their waste. Develop each main cause with a specific explanation or example, and make the link between the causes and solutions more explicit.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph about waste and reuse, a paragraph of proposed measures, and a conclusion. The ideas generally progress from the problem to possible solutions, and linking expressions such as “Furthermore,” “For example,” and “In conclusion” help guide the reader. However, some connections are awkward or unclear, particularly “Not only, this results…” and “If reusing is not possible then…,” where the relationship between ideas could be expressed more smoothly. The second body paragraph also combines awareness, sorting, personal responsibility and financial rewards without clearly separating or prioritising them. Use clearer topic sentences and organise each paragraph around one main point; vary linking devices rather than relying on them to carry the progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “recycling,” “plastic waste,” “decompose,” “packaging companies,” and “awareness program.” This gives the response an adequate range for discussing the issue, and the examples are generally understandable. However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, such as “recycle of waste material,” “maintained in proper way,” “increasing of garbage,” and “encourage by themself.” These choices sometimes make the intended meaning less precise. Aim to learn common environmental collocations and check word forms: for instance, use “recycling waste,” “managed properly,” “increase in waste,” and “encourage themselves.” More precise terms for causes, such as “limited access to recycling facilities” or “lack of awareness,” would also strengthen the discussion.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mix of simple and more complex sentences, including a conditional structure (“If reusing is not possible…”) and a comparison pattern (“Not only… but also…”). The overall meaning is usually recoverable, but errors occur frequently in sentence construction, agreement, articles and verb forms. Examples include “This essay will discuss what the reason…,” “plastic water bottles are not maintained,” “Most of the items… arrives,” and “government should… reward some cash.” The final sentence also has agreement problems in “Both contributions can reduce waste and helps.” These errors can make some relationships difficult to follow. Practise building accurate clauses before adding complexity, and check subject–verb agreement, singular/plural forms and articles in each sentence.

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