Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-10-27

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)

In the contemporary era , there is a lot of discussion about the recycling . while in many nations people try to avoid things to recycle as long as possible. In this essay, firstly we will discuss about the reason and nextly the solutions.

Commencing with reasons, the first and the foremost point which hit in my mind is about the reusing . To explain it in detail, many people give preference to reusing instead of recycling such as plastic bottles, glass and bags they use them again and again till they broken . Instead of this , it also caused by unawarance about the the recycling. Some countries are unable to explain the benefits of recycling to public by which they think it is normal to avoid. Furthermore, they are totally detached to process of recycling.

To improve it , the most relevant way is to spread awareness about 5R's . As in some nations such as Australia they pay for plastic bottles. People collect the plastic bottles and cans then there is a machine where they put them inside and they get money . Whenever other countries also proceed this same action in their country it may shows a lot of changes . The last but not least is about the seperate bins for recycling products and making laws against throwing plastic on roads or anywhere else instead of bins . They should fine those people who don't use recycling bins and throw them anywhere.

In conclusion, it is clear that the reasons are reusing them or unawareness, however if we want to improve it then government should announce the rules and regulations to avoid it .

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both parts of the question: you identify reusing items and lack of awareness as reasons, then suggest awareness campaigns, bottle-return payments, separate bins and fines. The Australia example makes one solution more concrete, and your position that governments should act is clear. However, some points are only briefly explained. For instance, you say people are “totally detached to process of recycling” without explaining what prevents them from participating, and the benefits of the 5Rs are not specified. The final sentence also focuses on rules, although your proposed solutions are broader. To develop the response further, explain how each cause leads to low recycling and why each measure would change people’s behaviour.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph on causes, one on solutions and a conclusion. The reader can follow the main progression, and signposts such as “Commencing with reasons” and “To improve it” indicate the purpose of each section. However, some linking is mechanical or awkward, including “firstly… and nextly” and “The last but not least.” The relationship between ideas is not always clear: “Instead of this” does not smoothly connect the reuse example to lack of awareness, and “Whenever other countries also proceed this same action” makes the comparison difficult to follow. Use simpler, more precise transitions and connect each example directly to the point it supports.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “recycling,” “awareness,” “separate bins,” “laws” and “fine,” and you attempt less common expressions such as “contemporary era” and “the most relevant way.” However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, which limits precision: “things to recycle,” “the reason,” “unawarance,” and “proceed this same action” do not express the ideas naturally. There are also spelling errors, such as “seperate,” and repetition of “recycling” and “people.” Aim for accurate, natural combinations rather than formal-sounding phrases. For example, “lack of awareness” and “introduce a bottle-deposit scheme” would communicate your points more clearly.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including a relative clause in “those people who don't use recycling bins” and a conditional idea about other countries adopting the scheme. However, control is inconsistent, and several sentence structures contain errors. Examples include “till they broken,” “it may shows,” and “they think it is normal to avoid,” where verb forms or sentence construction need correction. Articles and prepositions are also sometimes missing or misplaced, as in “detached to process of recycling.” Punctuation and capitalisation are uneven, particularly the lowercase “while” after the opening sentence and spaces before commas. Practise building accurate sentences with subordinate clauses, and proofread verb forms, articles and punctuation.

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.