Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · IELTS Momentum Workout · 2026-10-20

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)

In recent years, the environmental awarness has risen significantly, due to which most individuals adapt recycling as a standard habit. However, critics argue that recycling alone is not sufficent to address concern for the environment. As for as I am concerned, I believe that recycling plays a vital role in products recovery, but reducing the demand for new products is more fundamental and effective solution.

On the one hand, some people argue that recycling is more beneficial becuase of some factors. Recycling reduces the impact on ore metals like we don't have any need to extract more metals from the surface of earth to make new items which saves underground metals. Moreover, recycling consume less energy than the production of new product because new product take excessive energy, so by recycling large amount of energy can be saved. Recycling decreases the pollution because most of the garbage is thrown into the sea every year which affects marine life, so by recycling products we can control the pollution.

On the other hand, critics argue that alone recycling is not enough becuase recycling is not a big deal the overconsumption is main problem. Recycling can also cause pollution becuase factories eject poisonious gases during the redevelopment of products. Recycling is also costly, because recycling of products need chemicals, fossil fuels and a huge amount of water. Another reason is that every item is not able to recycle, so at the end we have to extract more metals to make products again.

In conclusion, recycling is very important but it is not far enough to control all environmental concerns. Reduce and reuse is more practical because if we will consume less we would not require to recycle and the issues will be solved at the initial stage.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You address both views and state a clear position: recycling has value, but reducing demand is more fundamental. The essay gives relevant reasons on each side, including energy use, resource extraction, pollution, and the costs and limits of recycling. This meets the task well overall. However, some points are asserted rather than fully explained. For example, the claim that recycling can control marine pollution needs a clearer link between recycling household waste and preventing rubbish from entering the sea. Likewise, the final claim that consuming less would mean the issues are solved is too absolute. To strengthen the response, develop each main reason with a specific explanation or example and qualify broad claims more carefully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs presenting the two views, and a conclusion that restates your opinion. Signposting such as “On the one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “In conclusion” makes the progression easy to follow. Within paragraphs, however, several ideas are joined in long chains with repeated “because” and “so,” which can make the reasoning feel mechanical. For instance, the recycling paragraph moves from metal extraction to energy and then marine pollution without clearly distinguishing the supporting points. Some references, such as “which” in the sentence about garbage and marine life, are not fully clear. Use shorter, more controlled links and make the relationship between each claim and its explanation explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “recycling,” “overconsumption,” “fossil fuels,” “marine life,” and “extract,” and you attempt more formal expressions such as “plays a vital role.” This gives you enough range to discuss the issue, but inaccurate spelling, word forms, and collocations are noticeable and sometimes make the wording awkward. Examples include “awarness,” “sufficent,” “ore metals,” “products recovery,” and “factories eject poisonious gases.” Some phrases also repeat, particularly “new product” and “recycling.” Aim to learn accurate environmental collocations and vary repeated terms; for example, use “recover materials” and “release toxic emissions.” Proofreading spelling and checking whether a phrase sounds natural will make your meaning more precise.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentences, including clauses introduced by “because,” “which,” and “if,” and the overall meaning is generally understandable. However, errors in sentence construction and grammatical control recur. For example, “Recycling consume less energy” has a subject–verb agreement error, while “new product take excessive energy” has agreement and number problems. The conditional in “if we will consume less we would not require to recycle” is also not formed accurately. Several sentences join multiple clauses with commas, making punctuation and relationships between ideas less controlled. Practise accurate agreement, articles and plural forms, and standard conditional patterns; then break long sentences into clearer units. This will help you retain complexity while improving accuracy.

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