Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-05

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people claim that not enough of the waste from homes is recycled. They say that the only way to increase recycling is for governments to make it a legal requirement.

To what extent do you think laws are needed to make people recycle more of their waste?

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

Student answer (Band 6.5)

While household waste management remains a critical environmental issue, many argue that introducing strict legal mandates is the only effective strategy to boost recycling rates. In my view, while legislation is essential for establishing civic accountability and setting a national standard, relying solely on legal compulsion is insufficient without accessible infrastructure and public education.

Statutory regulations are unquestionably necessary because they create strong legal accountability. When governments pass laws requiring citizens to separate recyclable materials from regular trash, supported by fines for non-compilance, it forces individuals to reconsider their waste habits. For instance, countries like Germany and South Korea have achieved some of the highest municipal recycling wastes globally largely due to strict legal frameworks and enforcement mechanism. Without enforceable laws, convenience often takes precedence over environmental responsibility for the average consumer.

However, by only making a law will not affect anything and change it. Government should also invest heavily in recycling waste of households. They should make a system for every house so that the waste which should be recycled will be get properly collected by the system or the mechanism which will increase the recycling. Secondly, they should run schemes such as were citizens should be benefitted by giving their used bottles or plastic waste so that it would gather more attention of several people.

In last, education also matters on of the most in this topic where schools should taught that recycling waste would protect our environment in a colossal way. They should also give students assignments, projects or a particular subject so that they could learn in a smart way. Governments should also invest in schools for this topic so it could be a future advantage and the next generations could also learn a useful lesson and implement it in their lives.

In conclusion, not only a legal requirement would be enough to increase recycling in households but also the government should support the system as it in beneficial for the environment too.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, presenting a clear position that legislation is necessary but insufficient on its own. The ideas are relevant and generally well-developed, particularly the argument regarding the need for infrastructure and education. The use of examples like Germany and South Korea effectively supports the argument for legal frameworks. However, the development of the 'incentive' point in the third paragraph is slightly underdeveloped, as it lacks specific detail on how such schemes would function. Overall, the response maintains a consistent focus on the prompt throughout.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Each paragraph has a central theme, and the progression of ideas is easy to follow. Cohesive devices such as 'However', 'Secondly', and 'In conclusion' are used to link ideas effectively. While the transition between the second and third paragraphs is clear, some of the internal sentence structures are slightly mechanical. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct arguments, contributing to the overall clarity of the response.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary to discuss the topic with some precision, using terms like 'statutory regulations', 'legal mandates', and 'civic accountability'. There are some minor inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'recycling waste of households' instead of 'household waste recycling' and 'in last' instead of 'finally' or 'lastly'. Despite these occasional errors, the vocabulary is adequate for the task and does not impede communication. The student makes a good attempt to use topic-specific terminology.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The response uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While there is a good attempt at complex sentences, there are persistent grammatical errors, such as 'by only making a law will not affect anything' (incorrect subject-verb structure) and 'schools should taught' (incorrect verb form). Punctuation is generally functional, but there are occasional slips. The errors do not significantly impede communication, but they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher band score. More attention to subject-verb agreement and verb tense consistency would improve the accuracy.

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