Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-28

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)

Significant proportion of the population thinks that household wastes are not being recycled, arguing that government should take significant legal actions to address this issue. However, there is a significant role of people for managing and separating the wastes from there houses.

Management, classification and separation of wastes are crucial steps that are significant to be undermined, ensuring that the garbage is recycled efficiently based on its type. In order to make this more accountable and effective, government have introduced a classification system for garbage, however, following these guidelines and separation of waste is also crucial. This classification system is significantly crucial, as it helps to separate the waste items which are hazardous and which are can actually be recycled.

There are several challenges and difficulties faced by people when it comes to the separation of waste, due to lack of knowledge of classification system, inability to separate garbage, etc. Furthermore, there are several circumstances when people are careless about when it comes to this process. for example, people often gets confused about what kind of waste goes in which type of the trash bin. Due to this, people prefer not to get bothered and dump the waste without separation it.

Therefore, it can be concluded that, despite of several laws introduced by government, it is important for people to follow these laws and guidelines, in order to recycle and reuse the waste and dispose the hazardous and unusable garbage. Lastly, these procedures and classification systems ensures to reuse the garbage, which can be recycled, but, it is also very crucial to follow this system.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt but lacks a clear, consistent position. While you acknowledge the government's role, you do not explicitly state the extent to which you believe laws are necessary. The ideas are somewhat repetitive, focusing heavily on the difficulty of waste separation rather than debating the necessity of legal mandates. To improve, ensure you take a firm stance in the introduction and provide distinct arguments that directly answer the 'to what extent' question. The conclusion is also somewhat vague and does not clearly summarise your position on the necessity of legislation versus personal responsibility.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organised into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the progression of ideas is somewhat mechanical. You use some cohesive devices like 'Furthermore' and 'Therefore', but they are occasionally used in ways that do not perfectly connect the logic of the preceding sentence. For example, the transition between the second and third paragraphs is abrupt. To reach a higher band, focus on using a wider variety of linking words and ensure that each paragraph has a clear topic sentence that relates back to your main argument.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, but it is quite repetitive. The word 'significant' is used five times, which limits the range and sophistication of your writing. You attempt to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'hazardous' and 'classification system', which is positive. However, there are some awkward collocations, such as 'significant to be undermined' and 'get bothered'. To improve, try to use synonyms to avoid repetition and focus on learning common collocations related to environmental issues to sound more natural and precise.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

There is a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but accuracy is inconsistent. You have several grammatical errors, such as 'government have introduced' (subject-verb agreement), 'which are can actually be recycled' (double verb), and 'despite of' (incorrect preposition usage). Additionally, there are minor punctuation and article errors throughout. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to lower the score. Focus on proofreading for basic subject-verb agreement and prepositional phrases to improve your accuracy.

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