Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-08
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)
The amount of household waste that recycled remains low in many countries. while some argue that legislation is also only the solution, i believe that laws are necessarymbut sufficient on their own.
There are strong reasons to support legal requirement for requiement.some people do not pay attention on recycling of materials because it require the great effort. as the waste of some materials like plastic bottles and plastic bags have adverse effect on environment and people because its decompostion cause the pollution in the environment. Government should implement fine on the people who do not do recycling of ingredients.for example Germany and Sweden recycling ratio are higher. Because these people are strictly follow the laws.They do 60% of recycling which is higher than other countries. this prove that legislation have prove the public behavior change effevtively.
on the other hand, government should the prepare proper infrastucture that helps to improve the recycling porcess such as they have to fix the different bins for different waste so that people throw into respective bin. On television and social media prperly runs the ads which educate the people about the benefit of recycling. However in some countries the wnding machine pay the people on every bottles which have inspire the people greatly.Many countries like pakistan do not know them method of recycling, so that in school and offices runs compaigns on method of recycling.
In conclusion, i agree to a large extent that knowledge is very important about reccyling. i believe that government rules, legislation,and incentives are also have huge impact to increase the recycling.This balanced approach will lead to cleaner and susutainable environment.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses the prompt by discussing the role of legislation in recycling. You have a clear position, although the introduction is slightly confusing due to the phrase 'necessarymbut sufficient'. You provide relevant examples, such as Germany and Sweden, to support your argument. However, some ideas are under-developed; for instance, the mention of Pakistan is a bit abrupt and lacks a clear connection to the main argument about legal requirements. To improve, ensure each paragraph focuses on a single, well-explained point that directly relates to the extent to which laws are needed.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organised into logical paragraphs, which helps the reader follow your argument. You use some cohesive devices like 'on the other hand' and 'in conclusion', but the flow between sentences is sometimes mechanical or disjointed. For example, the transition between the discussion of Germany and the shift to infrastructure is abrupt. Additionally, some referencing is unclear, such as 'they have to fix the different bins', where 'they' is not explicitly defined. Improving the use of linking words and ensuring clear pronoun references would enhance the overall coherence of your writing.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'legislation', 'infrastructure', and 'incentives'. However, there are several spelling errors ('reccyling', 'susutainable', 'effevtively', 'porcess') and word choice issues ('recycling of ingredients' instead of 'recycling of materials'). These errors occasionally distract the reader but do not fully impede communication. To reach a higher band, you should focus on accurate spelling and using more precise collocations, such as 'implement fines' rather than 'implement fine on the people'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement ('legislation have prove'), article usage ('the waste of some materials'), and sentence fragments or run-on sentences. For example, 'some people do not pay attention on recycling of materials because it require the great effort' contains multiple errors. While the meaning is generally clear, these persistent errors in basic grammar and punctuation limit the score. Focusing on proofreading for subject-verb agreement and article usage will significantly improve your accuracy.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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