Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-18
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)
Recycling plays an important role for the cleanliness of society and nature. Some individuals argue that the recycling activity is not performed enough to reuse the house wastes. While they believe legal rules and regulations are one of the effective step towards the engagement of public for recycling of wastes. This essay will discuss the notion that laws are significant to promote reprocessing.
On the one hand, there are several reasons why legislative measure is one of the effective solutions, as it has a powerful incentive for compliance. Besides this, it can promote clear guidelines and penalties for non-compliance. Moreover, legal mandates can contribute more to environmental sustainability in countries such as Germany and Japan.
Secondly, the legal requirement can contribute to preserving the environment, using measures government can decrease the square of landfills and air pollution and establish convenient infrastructure. For instance, recycling materials may create new useful facilities, like chairs, tables and other household facilities.
However, the legal recycling management is still defective. I think it is because of the lack of awareness in the community. Recycling should encourage more using some activities. For instance, one of the effective activities is advertising. Comprehensive educational campaigns should realize effective activities with the help of schools, community programs and media. This can cause changing attitudes of people to waste.
In conclusion, legal environmental measures are a suitable approach for recycling waste. Nevertheless, it still requires a more adequate attitude, as some people consider that recycling is the problem of the government not their own. That is why raising public information and education will able to achieve long-term benefits.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The response addresses the prompt by discussing whether laws are needed to increase household recycling, offering arguments on both sides. A position is presented, stating that while legal measures are important, education is equally necessary. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and lacks depth. For example, mentioning Germany and Japan is a good start, but the point is not fully extended. Similarly, the discussion on awareness-raising remains brief. While all parts of the task are addressed, the arguments would benefit from greater elaboration and more specific supporting examples to reach a higher band level.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion. Paragraphing is used to separate different ideas, such as the benefits of legal measures in the second and third paragraphs, and the counter-argument regarding community awareness in the fourth paragraph. However, cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or awkward, as seen with transitional phrases like 'Besides this,' and 'Secondly,'. Furthermore, referencing is occasionally unclear, such as 'using measures government can decrease the square of landfills', where the logical link between clauses is muddled. Overall, organisation is present, but progression is occasionally hindered by imprecise cohesion.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms like 'environmental sustainability', 'legislative measure', and 'infrastructure'. However, there are noticeable limitations and inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'the recycling activity is not performed enough', 'decrease the square of landfills', and 'raising public information'. Words are sometimes used in slightly unnatural contexts. Despite these flaws, the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the main arguments without heavily impeding the reader's understanding.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The writing demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures such as subordinate clauses ('While they believe legal rules and regulations are one of the effective step...'). However, grammatical errors are frequent throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('one of the effective step'), missing articles ('with the help of schools'), and awkward phrasing ('will able to achieve'). While these errors do not completely obscure the meaning, they occur regularly and restrict the control of complex structures, placing the response firmly in the Band 5 category for grammar.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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