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)

The topic states that In many countries, people do not recycle their rubbish as much as they could. I can defenitly relate to this as being a citizen of the city of karachi where recycling is something which is not at all talked about, be it government officials or the normal citizens.

To have a growing country, the people and the government needs to act sustainably and a sustainable enviroment actually solves multiple issues and problems faced by particular countries.

I believe that if strict actions are not taken by higher authorities the local citizen would not be held accoutable for small things like taking care of recycling their own products/goods.

Secondly, the govenment also neeeds to act on this and show the residents the importance of having a sustainable enviroment and recycling being the base of the topic.

Government can have intentives for people for recycling, like in some countries people can get few cents for recycling plastic bottles, if this trick is used evrywhere, having a sustainable enviroment wont be that much of an issue.

As people would rather have some extra cents than just having some bottles thrown out in the enviroment. Similarly big companies and factories should also be given some intentive (like tax releifs etc.) for recycling which they can advertise on their propduct so people can become aware of such things and act upon those ads.

this can help people to actually help in creating a better evviroment for the future and curent generations.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You address both questions: you suggest that weak government action contributes to low recycling, and propose public incentives, awareness campaigns, and tax relief for companies. The Karachi example gives the response a relevant personal context. However, the reasons are only briefly explained, and the solutions are not developed with specific details about how they would work or be implemented. The response also contains 236 words, so it is 14 words below the required minimum; 14 words copied from the task prompt were not counted. This limits the opportunity to explain and support your ideas fully. To strengthen the response, explain the causes more clearly and develop each proposed measure with a concrete example or likely result.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a basic progression from personal context, to causes, and then to possible solutions. Linking expressions such as “Secondly” and “Similarly” help signal the movement between points, and the examples about bottle payments and company tax relief are relevant. However, the overall organisation is not consistently clear: the opening paragraph introduces the topic but does not establish a precise line of argument, and the causes and solutions are not separated into well-developed paragraphs. Some links, such as “this can help,” have an unclear reference, while repeated use of “and” makes relationships between ideas less precise. Use a clear paragraph for causes and another for solutions, with topic sentences and explicit links between each claim and its explanation.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “recycling,” “sustainably,” “incentives,” “tax reliefs,” and “environment,” and the examples make your meaning generally understandable. There is some attempt to use less common language, particularly when discussing sustainable practices and government measures. However, spelling errors are noticeable, including “defenitly,” “accoutable,” “intentives,” and “propduct,” and several expressions are imprecise or unnatural, such as “the base of the topic” and “this trick.” Repetition of “sustainable environment” and “people” also limits range. Check spelling carefully and choose more precise collocations, for example, “financial incentive” rather than “some extra cents,” to make the argument sound more controlled and academic.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mixture of simple and longer sentences, including conditional structures such as “if strict actions are not taken … the local citizen would not be held accountable” and a comparison beginning “As people would rather…”. These attempts show some range, and the main message is usually recoverable. However, agreement and sentence construction errors recur: “the people and the government needs” should use a plural verb, and “the local citizen” does not agree naturally with the general meaning. The sentence beginning “As people would rather…” is a fragment, while the final sentence starts with a lowercase “this.” Articles and punctuation also need more consistent control. Practise checking each sentence for a complete main clause, correct subject–verb agreement, and appropriate capitalisation.

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

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