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 is the process of reusing waste products.

The unparalleled significance of recycling cannot be refuted because it has a close relevance to our lives. Some people opine that it is not enough to recycle waste at the domestic level and our government must take legal action. According to my point of view, it should be taken as a national issue and 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 environmental pollution. For example, if people throw their waste in the open instead of recycling it makes massive pollution and if the government makes laws that no one will be able to throw waste in the open area and if anyone does this they would have to pay a fine or face punishment.

While individuals should take it as a personal responsibility to recycle waste. If people take it as a personal responsibility or the government makes too much strict laws this issue of waste material will be over in the coming time. If it is not controlled it will create an uncontrolled situation that leads to a plethora of problems in the future.

According to my point of view if the government takes legal actions then we can overcome these problem. Government legal actions play a vital role in increasing waste recycling process. Due to strict laws no one would be able to throw waste in the open, they send waste material for recycling.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by presenting a clear position on whether laws are needed to increase household recycling. The student argues that government legal action is necessary alongside personal responsibility. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive. For instance, the argument in the third and fifth paragraphs essentially repeats the idea that laws prevent open dumping and force people to recycle through fines. While a clear stance is maintained throughout, the supporting arguments lack variety and depth. Nevertheless, the core requirements of the prompt are addressed, fulfilling the criteria for a Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt at paragraphing, although the introduction and conclusion are overly brief and fragmented. Cohesive devices are used, but they are sometimes mechanical or awkwardly placed, such as starting multiple sentences and paragraphs with 'Initially', 'While', or 'According to my point of view'. Referencing is generally clear, but logical progression between sentences occasionally falters due to abrupt transitions and repetitive sentence openings. Overall, the organizational structure is visible and guides the reader through the main arguments, aligning well with the Band 6 descriptors.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms such as 'unparalleled significance', 'domestic level', 'environmental pollution', and 'personal responsibility'. However, there are noticeable limitations and inaccuracies in word choice and collocation. For example, the phrase 'makes massive pollution' is unnatural and should be 'causes massive pollution', and 'too much strict laws' contains a grammatical and lexical collocation error ('too many strict laws' or 'overly strict laws'). Less common lexical items are attempted, but inaccuracies in their application prevent the score from reaching a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting conditional structures such as 'If waste products are not recycled they create environmental pollution' and 'if the government makes laws that no one will be able to throw waste'. However, these complex structures frequently contain punctuation omissions, comma splices, or structural fragments. For instance, 'For example, if people throw their waste in the open instead of recycling it makes massive pollution and if the government makes laws...' runs on without proper punctuation control. Errors in verb tense consistency and article usage are also present, but they do not severely impede overall communication.

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