Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Momentum Workout · 2026-10-02
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)
Environmental challenges are increasing gradually as well the concern for it. Some people tend to believe that recycling can be the solution for the rising crisis, but whereas some people think limiting the use can help in providing more stability to the cleanliness of the environment.
In my opinion, Both of these suggestions are strong.
Recycling the plastic can reduce the amount of waste produced by the humans on the earth, can control all types of pollution in the environment and keep environment clean. Earth is getting severely damaged and polluted due to the increase in plastic waste. Plastic is a non- biodegradable compound which is hazardous for the health of all the living creatures as well the mother earth. Recycling can reduce the waste and save the environment.
For instance, some people think that only recycling the plastic cannot entirely protect our environment from pollution. They believe that we must reduce the usage of plastic in our daily life. Recycling along with reduced usage of plastic can contribute more to save the environment. According to science, plastic can cause lung cancer, stomach cancer and uclers in the intestine which is a severely dangerous. By reducing the use of plastic one can live a healthy life along with clean environment. If the use of plastic is reduced then the production of plastic will decrease vibrantly which will further help in the controlling the pollution.
In conclusion, Both of these suggestions should be combined and practiced in the current world, it can contribute more in the removal of plastic waste from the earth.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The response addresses the prompt by discussing both recycling and consuming less, and presents a clear personal opinion that both methods should be combined. However, the ideas remain somewhat limited and under-developed. For instance, while you mention that recycling reduces plastic waste and pollution, the elaboration relies on repetitive phrasing rather than extending the argument with fully realized examples. Similarly, the discussion on consumption focuses heavily on plastic usage rather than broader consumer habits. To move to a higher level, you need to fully expand your main points with deeper explanations and more specific, well-supported examples rather than generalized statements.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
Your essay displays some overall organization, with a distinct introduction, body paragraphs, and a brief conclusion, and you state your opinion early on. However, there is a lack of clear overall progression between the ideas, making the logical flow feel somewhat mechanical. Cohesive devices are sometimes used inaccurately or repetitively, such as starting multiple sentences with 'For instance' or repetitive transitions like 'plastic can...' and 'By reducing...'. Paragraphing is present, but internal cohesion within paragraphs needs better referencing and clearer logical links so that arguments transition smoothly from one point to the next.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for the task, demonstrating an attempt to use less common items such as 'biodegradable compound' and 'vibrantly'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors and awkward word choices that can cause some difficulty for the reader, such as using 'uclers' (spelling error) instead of ulcers, and phrases like 'providing more stability to the cleanliness' or decreasing 'vibrantly', which do not use natural collocation. To improve, focus on expanding your vocabulary range with greater precision, ensuring correct word forms, accurate spelling, and natural collocations suited to academic writing.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional structures like 'If the use of plastic is reduced then the production of plastic will decrease...'. However, there is a limited range of structures successfully controlled, and frequent errors occur, including issues with articles ('the cleanliness of the environment', 'the mother earth'), prepositions ('pollution in the environment'), and awkward sentence openings like 'as well the concern for it'. These grammatical inaccuracies and occasional faulty complex structures require extra effort from the reader to parse, characteristic of this level. Increasing accuracy and varying sentence patterns will help elevate this criterion.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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