Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · IELTS Momentum Workout · 2026-09-30

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 6.0)

It is often debated that whether only recycling is enough to protect the environment or should we decrease consumption to improve our ecosystem. In my opinion, the best way to protect the environment is to do these both things together. Recycling decreases the wastage of material and lessen the environmental pollution.On the other hand, if we choose to consume less, it protects the natural resources and decreases the need for recycling.

Firstly, re using the products again after processing them leads to better management of materials. Raw materials would be needed more and more if every product is wasted after consumption. This may lead to significant shortage of material for our future generations. Moreover, not recycling the goods leads to signifcant aquatic and soil pollution. When things are wasted after use, they eventually find their way into the water or land bodies and may stay there for hundreds of years. For example, microbes need thousands of years to decompose plastic and in mean time tons of pastic would be added in the environment again.

Secondly, the proposal to decrease consumption has some merits also. Lesser consumption means less use of natural resources. This way we can protect the resources of nature, for example, oil, coal and water. As consumption decreases so does the garbage and wasted material. So, automatically we would have less things at our hand to deal with. For instance, if the consumption of plastic products fall, there would be less plastic to recycle and less environmental pollution.

In conclusion, recycling and cosuming less should be encouraged to decrease the wastage of material and preservation of natural resources. These two policies would be immensely helpful to combat the growing concerns for the environment.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views on recycling and consumption, and presents a clear personal opinion that both strategies should be combined. The ideas are generally well developed and supported with relevant examples, such as mentioning the role of microbes in decomposing plastic and the conservation of natural resources like oil, coal, and water. However, some arguments tend to over-generalise slightly or could be pushed further in terms of depth. For instance, the discussion on future generations and raw materials is somewhat brief. Overall, the requirements of the prompt are well met, earning a solid Band 7.0 for addressing all components of the task with a consistent position throughout.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay displays a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. The response is divided into logical paragraphs with an introduction, two body paragraphs exploring each viewpoint, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are used to guide the reader, such as 'Firstly', 'Moreover', 'Secondly', and 'In conclusion'. However, there are minor cohesion and referencing issues, such as the slightly clumsy transition 'to do these both things together' in the introduction. Furthermore, spacing errors around punctuation marks (e.g., 'pollution.On the other hand') detract slightly from the mechanical flow. Despite these minor flaws, the overarching structure remains coherent, securing a Band 6.5.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'ecosystem', 'wastage of material', 'microbes', and 'conservation of natural resources'. Meaning is generally clear, but there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors, such as 're using' (reusing), 'signifcant' (significant), 'pastic' (plastic), 'mean time' (meantime), and 'cosuming' (consuming). Some collocations are also slightly unnatural, such as 'less things at our hand' instead of 'fewer things on hand'. Because the lexical errors do not impede communication, the vocabulary is sufficient for Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including conditional structures ('if the consumption of plastic products fall...') and relative clauses. However, there are notable grammatical errors and lapses in control, such as the introductory error 'It is often debated that whether only recycling is enough', subject-verb agreement issues ('if the consumption of plastic products fall'), and missing articles. Punctuation and spacing errors also occur frequently. While complex structures are attempted, the frequency of grammar and punctuation errors keeps the performance at a Band 6.0 level.

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