Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-16

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 4.5)

Nowadays, a large amount of household waste is thrown away instead of being recycled. Some people believe that the most effective way to solve this problem is for governments to make recycling a legal requirement. i partly agree with this view because laws can encourage people to recycle, but education and convinient recycling system are also necessary.

there are several reasons why governments should introduce laws to increase recycling. first legal requirements can make people take recycling more seriously. if households re required to separate recyclable materials from general waste, more people are likely to develop this habit. governments could also introduce reasonable penalties for thise who repeatedly ignnore recycling rules . in addition laws can encourage businesses and local autorities to provided suitable recycling facilities making it easier for people to dispose of waste correctly

i thnki governments dhould use a combination of legislation education and convient facilities .

laws can play an important role in increasing household recycling particularly by creating clear reponsibilioties and encourageing better waste management systems.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.5

The student addresses the prompt by discussing the extent to which laws are needed for household recycling and outlines a partial agreement, noting that laws should be combined with education and facilities. However, the response suffers from a significant limitation in length, reaching only 171 words compared to the required 250-word minimum. Because the essay is severely under-length, the ideas are necessarily underdeveloped and the task cannot be fully satisfied. For instance, the second body paragraph introduces valid points about penalties and facilities, but these points lack the extended explanation and concrete examples expected in Task 2. Consequently, the task achievement is restricted to a lower band due to the word count penalty.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay displays a basic logical structure with an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a brief concluding thought, though paragraphing is poorly executed due to multiple unfinished or fragmented blocks of text. The student attempts to sequence ideas using transitional markers such as 'first', 'in addition', and 'i thnki governments dhould', but cohesion is frequently mechanical and marred by a lack of capitalisation and punctuation. Referencing and progression are visible as the writer moves from the thesis to arguments supporting legislation, but the overall structural integrity is severely weakened by the fragmented layout and brevity of the writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 4.5

The student uses a limited but minimally adequate range of vocabulary relevant to the topic of waste and recycling, incorporating terms like 'household waste', 'recyclable materials', 'penalties', and 'legislation'. However, there are numerous spelling and typographical errors throughout the text, including 'convinient' instead of convenient, 'thnki' instead of think, 'dhould' instead of should, 're' instead of are, 'thise' instead of those, 'ignnore' instead of ignore, 'autorities' instead of authorities, 'provided' instead of provide, and 'reponsibilioties' instead of responsibilities. These lexical inaccuracies and persistent spelling errors restrict the vocabulary score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.5

The grammar demonstrates attempts at complex structures, such as conditional forms like 'if households re required to separate recyclable materials... more people are likely to develop this habit'. However, the grammatical accuracy is heavily compromised by persistent mechanical errors, total lack of capitalisation at the beginnings of sentences and for the pronoun 'i', and missing punctuation. While some simple sentences are formed correctly, the frequency of basic mechanical errors and typos means that error-free sentences are not in the majority, placing the performance in the lower bands for accuracy and control.

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

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