Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-24

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 5.5)

There is a lot of opinions that envolve around recycling and saying that the number of waste recycled from houses is not enough and the government should make new laws to enhance recycling as a solution .

Recycling is a very important process that contributes in preserving the natural resources and protecting the environment . And every year, there is uncountable number of waste recycled in all the world affecting the environment positively, although, there is a lot of people that say that we still have big quantities of unrecycled home waste that create massive concerns about the impacts of the lost resources due to not recycling and many demand the government to make it legal requirement. In my opinion, i hightly agree with people's suggestion because there is a lot of careless peoples who don't send their garbage to recycling which make big problems and the laws are the only things that make peoples obey simultaneously because it creates in people's heart a kind of fear to not get punished by the law .Therefor , waste will be less neglected and recycling processes with be more thrived and advanced.

Government punishement including financial punishment can be very heavy and have negative impacts on people's financial situations , as well , it can develop financial crisis to citizens , consequently, in order to prevent those financials problems people wouldn't try to break the law and as a result a lot of waste will be added to the daily recycled one.

Overall, i completely agree about making law as a tool to scare people in order to reduce the number of rabbish wasted and grow the recycling processes .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position in favor of legal requirements for recycling. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive. The argument relies heavily on the concept of 'fear' and 'punishment' rather than exploring broader societal or economic benefits of legislation. While the position is consistent, the supporting arguments lack depth and variety, often restating the same point about financial penalties in different ways. To improve, you should expand on how laws might change public behavior beyond just fear, such as through infrastructure investment or educational mandates, to provide a more comprehensive and balanced discussion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into paragraphs, but the flow between ideas is often mechanical. You use some cohesive devices like 'consequently' and 'although,' but they are sometimes used incorrectly or in a way that disrupts the logical progression of the argument. For example, the transition between the second and third paragraphs is abrupt. The referencing is occasionally unclear, and the overall structure feels somewhat disjointed. To achieve a higher band, focus on using a wider range of linking words more naturally and ensure that each paragraph has a clear topic sentence that directly supports the main thesis.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and variety required for higher bands. There are several instances of awkward word choices, such as 'uncountable number of waste,' 'thrived and advanced,' and 'rabbish wasted.' You also rely on basic vocabulary like 'big' and 'make' repeatedly. To improve, try to incorporate more topic-specific collocations related to environmental policy and waste management. Avoid informal phrasing and focus on using more sophisticated synonyms to express your ideas with greater clarity and academic tone.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a high frequency of grammatical errors that occasionally impede readability. Common issues include subject-verb agreement ('there is a lot of opinions,' 'there is a lot of careless peoples'), incorrect pluralization ('peoples'), and punctuation errors (spaces before commas). Sentence structures are mostly simple or compound; there are few attempts at complex structures, and those that are attempted often contain errors. To improve, focus on mastering basic subject-verb agreement and proofreading for common slips. Increasing the variety of sentence structures through the use of subordinate clauses would also help demonstrate better grammatical control.

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