Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-24

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)

Many people argues that waste is not properly recycled from houses and the best way to grow the proportions of recycled material is for the authorities to make it a compulsory legal law in the country. Somewhere I approve this statment but not fully as it is a very sensitive topic and reasons and mentioned below to support my opinion.

Generally speaking, public is indeed careless in the matter of recycling things but government should spread social awareness on recycling the waste of homes in order to preserve and conserve the environment. For example, digital ads should run in every crowded place whether it is a bus stop, shpping mall, or banks. Once public knew about the pros of recycling waste material than it would be great for our ecosystem. So, social awareness is very important even before making it a offical law.

In my experience, making it a legal requirement would help so much in the process and those who will not follow the guidelines should face some serious punishments. Admittedly, if we implement this law and make it compulsory then people are indirectly forced to do so. In fact, this will triple the amount of waste recycled and ultimately this will benefit both country and society.

I firmly believe that if authorities announce a particular prize for induviduals who recycles the most amount of waste every month from their houses than public will be happily doing this every month. For example, if there is a proper factory where people can discharge their waste for recycling and the government should also provide recycling trucks for the ease of public then all this process will be much easy to regulate.

To sum up, awareness is as important as making it a offical law for recycling waste material. Recycling products will play a vital role for our secure future as this process is very ecosystem friendly.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the role of social awareness and the necessity of legal requirements. The writer presents a clear position ('Somewhere I approve this statement but not fully') and supports it with relevant ideas, such as government-run digital ads, fines, and reward systems. However, some ideas are slightly under-developed or colloquial, such as 'Somewher I approve this statement' and the reference to 'a particular prize for individuals.' The conclusion briefly reiterates the stance. Overall, the response meets the criteria for Band 6.0 because it addresses the prompt adequately and presents a clear stance, even though the depth of idea extension could be more thorough.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay is generally coherent with an overall logical arrangement, moving from an introduction to awareness campaigns, legal enforcement, incentives, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate main ideas. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. For instance, the transition 'Somewhere I approve this statement' is awkward, and the linking devices used between paragraphs (e.g., 'Generally speaking', 'In my experience', 'I firmly believe') feel somewhat formulaic rather than naturally embedded. Referencing is mostly clear, but the flow is occasionally disrupted by minor structural disjointedness. This places the response firmly at Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student displays an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'preserve and conserve,' 'compulsory legal law,' and 'ecosystem friendly.' However, there are noticeable word-choice errors and spelling mistakes throughout, including 'argues' instead of 'argue,' 'statment' instead of 'statement,' 'shpping' instead of 'shopping,' 'offical' instead of 'official,' and 'induviduals' instead of 'individuals.' These errors do not seriously impede communication, but they prevent the score from reaching a higher band. The use of repetitive phrasing ('waste recycled', 'recycling waste material') also limits lexical flexibility.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing conditional structures ('if authorities announce a particular prize... then public will be happily doing this') and relative clauses. However, there are frequent grammatical errors and awkward phrasing, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('Many people argues', 'government should provide... for the ease of public then all this process will be much easy'), tense inconsistencies ('Once public knew about the pros... than it would be great'), and punctuation errors. While these errors rarely completely impede communication, they are common enough to prevent the response from achieving Band 6.0, aligning it closely with Band 5.5 due to the frequency of structural and mechanical slips.

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

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