Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-12

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)

Several people argue that household waste are not sorted and recycled correctly, and states that in order for the people to implement recycling, there should be coordination with the government in creating a law that every household are required to properly recycle their garbage waste. I highly agree that implementing a law for proper waste management, which would be effective to motivate the public society, mitigates the current enviromental issue regarding the proper disposal of trash.

Imposing rules for waste management system would aid in our environmental problems because one of the main issues we are currently dealing is the harmful effect of plastics in the ocean, which is affecting and posing hazardous risks to our sea creatures. For example, recent study shows that risks of extinction with our marine life is possible because turtles are digesting plastics that would result to death and the corals are damaged because of the trash everywhere. With this reason, developing sustainable solution and creating a law such as imposing fines for littering and not following the correct recycling process in every household would definitely alleviate the problems we are facing today. For instance, in Japan, there are machines in every street where a person can throw and recycle their rubbish and the machine will give you money. Additionally, people are trained and disciplined enough to do 'clean as you go' because littering cost a heavy fine.

In conclusion, having rules and regulations with waste disposal management can mitigate environmental issues as well as training the public on how to adequately disposed their waste.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses the prompt directly by exploring the extent to which laws are needed to enforce recycling. The writer establishes a clear position in the introduction agreeing with the implementation of laws for waste management and maintains this stance throughout the essay. Main ideas are supported with relevant examples, such as the discussion on ocean plastics and the reference to Japan's recycling infrastructure. However, the development of some ideas lacks depth, and the arguments tend to lean towards broad generalisations. For example, while the Japan example is relevant, it is introduced rather abruptly without fully tying back to how legislation specifically forced that cultural shift. Overall, the task is addressed adequately, fitting the criteria for Band 6.5, which is awarded as a 6.5.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraph, and conclusion. Information and ideas are logically sequenced, moving from the thesis to environmental impacts and practical examples, and finally to a summary. Cohesive devices such as 'Additionally' and 'For instance' are utilised to signal transitions between ideas. However, paragraphing is somewhat under-utilised, with the main body concentrated into a single, rather long paragraph that covers multiple distinct points (environmental damage, legislation, and the Japan example). Referencing is occasionally slightly unclear, as seen in phrases like 'With this reason'. These organisational flaws place the response firmly in the Band 6 category.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student displays an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'mitigates', 'hazardous risks', and 'sustainable solution'. However, there are notable inaccuracies in word choice and collocation. For instance, the writer uses 'garbage waste' (redundant), 'public society' (awkward collocation), and 'adequate disposed' instead of 'adequately disposed'. Spelling is generally acceptable, but lexical control is inconsistent. Because these errors in word choice and form occur frequently throughout the text without severely impeding overall communication, the vocabulary aligns with Band 6.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some ambition in sentence structure. However, grammatical accuracy is noticeably weak. There are several subject-verb agreement errors, such as 'household waste are not sorted' and 'every household are required', as well as tense inconsistencies ('and states that'). Additionally, awkward phrasing like 'is digesting plastics that would result to death' and 'littering cost a heavy fine' detracts from the overall control. While the meaning remains mostly clear despite these errors, the frequency of grammatical slips prevents the response from achieving a higher band, making Band 5.5 an appropriate evaluation.

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