Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-07

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 6.0)

Few individuals state that a major part of waste which is consumed from the houses is not recycled. Although laws can play an important role in increasing household recycling, I believe that educating people and providing better recycling facilities are equally important.

One of the main causes of this problem is that lack of awareness. This is due to fact that people are not more aware about recycling the things by which people can make environment sustain. Another reason is that inconvenience. To elaborate, some houses do not have separate bins or easy access to recycling facilities by which they are not able to recycle any household waste. For instance, in many houses people throw biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste in same dustbin by which people cannot recycle anything. Therefore, due to lack of awareness and inconvenience populace cannot reuse anything.

However, one effective solution to deal with this is the educating people. This means that education is a crucial part of any individual life by which they can get knowledge of anything as well of recycling the products also. Another possible answer lies in the providing better recycling facilities. To justify, government can provide the different bins to their nation people for throwing the waste according to its type, it can make the biggest difference in positive way for recycling anything. For instance, in some countries like Germany, Japan, and Sweden has well maintained recycling system, which reduce the amount of waste sent to the landfills.

To conclude, even though there are several issues that cause this obstacle, the solution lies in educating people and providing better recycling facilities, which can curb this issue to a large extent.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource6.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall6.0

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses the prompt by acknowledging the role of laws while arguing for the importance of education and infrastructure. The position is clear throughout. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. While you mention Germany, Japan, and Sweden, the explanation of how laws specifically interact with these solutions could be more nuanced. The task asks to what extent laws are needed, but your response focuses almost exclusively on the alternatives to legislation rather than balancing the necessity of legal requirements against other methods. To reach a higher band, ensure you explicitly address the 'extent' of the need for laws, perhaps by discussing whether laws are a necessary foundation for the education and facilities you propose.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized into clear paragraphs, each with a central theme. You use cohesive devices such as 'However', 'To elaborate', and 'To conclude' to guide the reader. However, some transitions are repetitive or slightly awkward, such as the frequent use of 'by which' to connect ideas, which occasionally obscures the logical flow. For example, 'people are not more aware about recycling the things by which people can make environment sustain' is confusing. Improving the variety of your linking words and ensuring that referencing remains clear will help move the essay toward a higher band.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing you to express your ideas clearly. You use some topic-specific terms like 'biodegradable', 'non-biodegradable', and 'landfills'. However, there is a reliance on basic phrasing and some word-choice errors, such as 'consumed from the houses' instead of 'generated in households' and 'nation people' instead of 'citizens'. The repetition of 'by which' and 'people' indicates a limited range of vocabulary. To improve, focus on using more precise collocations and avoiding repetitive sentence structures that rely on simple vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with articles ('the environment', 'the education'), preposition usage, and subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'some countries... has well maintained'). Some sentences are structurally awkward, such as 'This is due to fact that people are not more aware'. These errors do not typically impede communication, but they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. Focusing on consistent subject-verb agreement and refining your use of articles would significantly improve the accuracy of your writing.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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