Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

Recycling is the process of reusing waste products.

The unparalleled significance of recycling cannot be refuted because it has close relevance to our lives. Some people opine that it is not enough to recycle waste at domestic level and our government must take legal action. According to my point of view, it should be taken as a national issue there should be some laws.

Initially, some individuals think that it is not only a domestic issue, it is a national issue. They think that the government wants to create strict laws for recycling. If waste products are not recycled they create an enviornmental pollution. For example; if people throw their waste in open rather then recycling it makes massive pollution and if the government makes laws that no one can be able to throw waste in open area and if anyone dose this he would have to pay a fine or face punishment.

While individuals should take it as a personal responsibility to recycle the waste.If people took it as a self responsibility or government make to much strict laws this issue of waste material will be over in coming time. If it will not control its will create a un control able situation that leads to plethora of problems in future.

According to my point of view if government took legal actions then we willl overcome from this problem. Government's legal action play a vital role in increasing waste recycling process. Due to stricket laws no one wolud be able to threw waste in open they send waste metrials for recycling.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.0
Coherence and Cohesion5.0
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.0

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The student addresses the prompt by discussing whether recycling should be made a legal requirement by the government. A position is presented, stating that laws are indeed necessary to tackle the issue. However, the development of ideas is limited and somewhat repetitive. For instance, the argument regarding environmental pollution is stated multiple times without introducing fresh supporting points or deep analysis. While all parts of the prompt are touched upon, the arguments remain underdeveloped, preventing the response from reaching a higher band. There is a tendency to circle back to the same points about fines and government action rather than extending the discussion to explore alternative perspectives or long-term impacts. Therefore, the response aligns best with a Band 5.0, as it addresses the task partially with limited idea expansion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay is divided into paragraphs, attempting an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. However, the logical progression is frequently disrupted by repetitive statements and abrupt transitions. Cohesive devices are either misused or overused, such as repeatedly starting sentences with 'According to my point of view' or 'For example'. Paragraphing is also erratic, with very short, disjointed paragraphs that break the flow of the argument. Referencing is occasionally unclear, making it hard to follow the exact relationship between ideas. Overall, the organizational structure displays some basic planning, but the mechanical use of cohesive ties and poor progression place this response at a Band 5.0 level.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates a limited range of vocabulary that is minimally adequate for discussing the topic of recycling and waste. Words such as 'environment', 'government', and 'punishment' are used correctly, but there are frequent word choice and spelling errors, such as 'enviornmental', 'dose' instead of 'does', 'stricket', and 'wolud'. The student also misspells 'materials' as 'metrials' and uses awkward phrasing like 'un control able situation'. Repetition of basic terms like 'waste products', 'issue', and 'laws' restricts the lexical diversity. Because these errors and the narrow vocabulary range occasionally cause strain for the reader, the lexical resource fits the Band 5.0 descriptors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional clauses ('If waste products are not recycled they create...'). However, attempts at complex structures are frequently faulty, resulting in persistent grammatical errors. Examples include tense inconsistencies ('if people took... or government make') and missing auxiliary verbs or prepositions ('if anyone dose this he would have to pay', 'we willl overcome from this problem'). Punctuation is also problematic, with missing spaces after commas and periods. These frequent grammatical errors cause some difficulty for the reader and demonstrate weak control over complex sentence patterns, which corresponds to a Band 5.0 score.

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

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