Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Momentum Workout · 2026-09-25

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Concern for the environment is growing and more and more people are choosing to recycle. But some people suggest that recycling is not enough. They believe we need to consume less.

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge and experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

the environment is a key part of human life and all various forms of life on earth . How we treat the environment , will also be how the environment treats us . Although major steps have been taken to reduce pollution and stop the degradation of environmental condition , all of them have been proven to not undo the large scale destruction caused to the environment by humans . The most cliché form of 'saving the environment' is by follwing the 4 golden R's which are reduce , reuse , refuse and recycle . the latter , is the most used out of the lot . In recent times , Although major companies and environmentalists campaign for recycling materials and producing biodegradable materials , the amount of pollution caused after all this is monumental . Recycling although , can help make a dent in the huge amounts of pollution globally . Recycling alone cannot be used to put a full stop to environmental degradation as a whole . A variety of steps need to go hand-in-hand with recycling to help reduce pollution . Recycling can also have flaws of it's own . for example , a poastic material that has been recycled over and over again may contain contaminated and deadly substances due to the sheer amount of recycling . Recycling can also reduce the quality of plastic , which can cause difficulty for people . while recycling materials , the heat can cause the plastic to melt and emit deadly gases which , if inhaled , can cause destruction to the human body . therefore , although recycling may have it's own negatives , it's positives are way more important than it's flaws . Therefore , I believe , recycling should be promoted

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses the prompt by discussing recycling and mentioning that it is not enough on its own, acknowledging that other steps must go hand-in-hand with it. However, the prompt specifically asks to 'Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.' While the student discusses recycling at length and gives a personal opinion at the end, the second view—that we need to consume less—is only very briefly touched upon and not fully developed. The main focus remains heavily on the flaws and benefits of recycling rather than a balanced discussion of consuming less. Furthermore, the response is cut off at the end ('Therefore, I believe, recycling should be promoted'), leaving the conclusion incomplete. Ideas are partially developed, aligning the response with Band 5.5 to 6.0 descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The essay lacks proper paragraphing, as it is written as one large, unbroken block of text. This makes the logical progression difficult to follow and visually impairs the structure. There are noticeable punctuation and spacing errors throughout the text, such as spaces before commas and periods (e.g., 'environment , will also be'). While cohesive devices like 'Although', 'For example', and 'Therefore' are attempted, referencing and transitions are frequently faulty or mechanical due to the lack of clear paragraph breaks separating the introduction, body arguments, and conclusion. This places the response in the Band 5.0 range for Coherence and Cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common terms such as 'degradation', 'monumental', 'biodegradable', and 'contaminated'. However, there are noticeable word choice and spelling errors, such as 'follwing', 'poastic', and awkward phrasing like 'make a dent in the huge amounts of pollution'. Furthermore, some terms are misused or lack precision, such as 'the latter , is the most used out of the lot'. These lexical inaccuracies and occasional spelling slips indicate a solid Band 6.0 performance.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, using subordinating clauses introduced by 'Although' and 'while'. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors including punctuation spacing issues, missing capitalisation at the beginning of sentences (e.g., 'the environment is...', 'the latter , is...'), and incorrect punctuation handling (e.g., 'flaws of it's own'). There are also awkward run-on constructions and comma splices. Because errors are frequent and can cause occasional difficulty for the reader, this matches the Band 5.0 descriptors.

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

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