Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-11-04

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 rubbish is really important to protect our environment and to protect the planet , in todays life we can clearly see that the culture of recycling our wastes isn't really a famous one in some countries and that's because people do not belive that one bottle can make the change and underestimate the effect that one bottle can do, some think that burning the plastic bottle will do the job but in reality we do not get rid of it by burning it we just transporting the problem from the plastic bottle to the air and to make a change in peoples mindset we need to go through some steps and one of them is to use social media and aTV to advertise the idea of protecting the planet and show them what a small piece of plastic can do , and them we will pass to the next step is to start selling them stuff that are made from recycled rubbish and plant the seed in them that we can make amazing stuff just by using what was once a plastic cap or a metal can and then we can steale a nice idea from Germany, they make you sell them back the bottle for some cash back that will motivate people to do more recycling and that can easily make them adopt this new method of getting rid of rubbish without burning it or throwing it outside and we will have a beautiful and healthy environment to live and to grow our children in

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both parts of the question: you suggest that people underestimate the impact of individual recycling, and propose awareness campaigns, products made from recycled materials, and a bottle-return payment scheme. The Germany example gives the final proposal a relevant, concrete illustration. However, the reasons are less fully developed than the solutions: the response mainly focuses on disbelief about one bottle’s effect, without exploring other possible barriers such as inconvenient collection systems or lack of information. Some proposals also need clearer explanation—for example, how selling recycled products would change people’s recycling habits. Developing these points with a specific example or explanation would make the response more complete and persuasive.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response follows a broadly understandable sequence, moving from the problem to awareness-raising and then to practical incentives. Phrases such as “one of them,” “the next step,” and “and then” help signal this order. However, nearly all the ideas are packed into one long paragraph and one extended sentence, so the progression is difficult to follow. Some links are also unclear: “and them we will pass” does not clearly connect the advertising idea to the next proposal, and the repeated use of “and then” makes the organisation feel mechanical. Separate the response into paragraphs for causes and solutions, and use shorter sentences with clearer links between each point.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “recycling,” “plastic bottle,” “recycled rubbish,” and “environment,” and the contrast between burning waste and transferring pollution to the air communicates your point. However, the range is limited and several choices or spellings are inaccurate, which makes the writing less precise. For example, “the culture of recycling … isn’t really a famous one” is an unnatural way to describe how common recycling is, while “steale a nice idea” and “belive” contain spelling errors. Repeated use of “stuff,” “make,” and “change” also limits variety. Choose more precise expressions such as “recycling is not widely practised,” “products,” and “encourage participation,” and check spelling carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt to connect several ideas using clauses, including the explanation that burning plastic transfers the problem to the air and the proposal that a refund could motivate recycling. However, the response relies heavily on one very long sentence, and attempts to combine many clauses often lead to faulty structure and punctuation. For instance, “and them we will pass to the next step is to start selling” lacks a clear grammatical connection, while “we just transporting the problem” is missing an auxiliary verb. There are also errors in articles and sentence boundaries, such as “aTV” and the absence of full stops between major ideas. Use a mix of shorter sentences and controlled complex structures, checking verb forms and clause boundaries.

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