Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-29

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)

It is often argue that governments should take step to make recycling the waste from homes legal requirement, while it is true that no enough of the waste from homes is recycled, I firmly agree with view that government should make it legally necessary due to several compelling reasons.

To commence with, one of the most significant reason is that people take it as their responsibility and don't spread their waste. This can be attributed to the fact that it can reduce the stress of pollution. In other words, people consider recycling their waste as their legal requirement and keep their waste within their own reach. For instance, if person knows recycling his home's waste is his own responsibility, he will try is best to keep as nearby as possible. This clearly demonstrates that pollution could controlled using this approach.

Moreover, another crucial factor to consider is that it can also help the governments to reduce the cost which they spend on collecting and recycling waste. Furthermore, government can save many other expenses and can use them in any other development program. A particular good example of this is they can use that this budget can be spended o the education of students in remote areas.Thus, it is the evident that expenditure of recycling household waste can be useful for betterment of the society.

In conclusion, some people argue that government should make recycling household waste a legal requirement. I also believe that governments should take these steps because of the reasons discussed above.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position that governments should make recycling a legal requirement. The ideas presented, such as reducing pollution and saving government expenditure on waste management, are relevant to the topic. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive. For instance, the argument regarding pollution is underdeveloped and lacks clear explanation or concrete examples. The phrase 'if person knows recycling his home's waste is his own responsibility, he will try is best' is overly simplistic and relies on vague assertions rather than well-supported extension. Furthermore, the example regarding the education of students in remote areas, while creative, lacks a tight logical connection to waste management enforcement. Because the ideas are presented without sufficient depth and extension, the response fits best at Band 5.5, showing clear engagement with the task but limited development.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay is divided into four paragraphs, including an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion, which provides a recognizable overall structure. However, progression and cohesion are frequently hindered by mechanical or inaccurate cohesive devices. For example, the transition 'To commence with' is awkward, and the phrase 'one of the most significant reason' contains a basic pluralization error. Reference pronouns are occasionally unclear, as seen in 'use that this budget can be spended o the education of students', where referencing breaks down. While the writer attempts to guide the reader through the text with markers like 'Moreover' and 'In conclusion', the overall logical flow suffers from abrupt transitions and repetitive sentence structures. This level of paragraphing and cohesion aligns with Band 5.5, where some organization is present, but overall progression lacks smoothness.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task, allowing the student to communicate basic ideas about recycling and government responsibilities, such as 'household waste', 'pollution', and 'development program'. However, the range is limited and repetition of basic terms ('waste', 'government', 'recycling') is noticeable throughout the essay. There are also several lexical errors and inappropriate collocations, such as 'take step' instead of 'take steps', 'legal requirement' used repeatedly without variation, and awkward phrasing like 'spread their waste'. Word formation errors occur, such as 'evident' used as a noun ('it is the evident'). These frequent inaccuracies and the restricted vocabulary profile restrict the score to Band 5.0, where noticeable errors cause some difficulty and the range is minimally adequate.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The essay displays a mix of simple and attempted complex sentence forms, but grammatical control is weak throughout. There are frequent and systematic errors in basic grammar, including subject-verb agreement ('one of the most significant reason is'), missing articles ('if person knows'), incorrect pronoun use ('his home's waste'), and awkward passive/active verb constructions ('budget can be spended o'). Additionally, run-on structures and comma splices appear, such as in the opening sentence: 'It is often argue that... requirement, while it is true that...'. While the structures attempted show an ambition for complexity, the high frequency of errors across basic and complex sentences impacts readability and points clearly to a Band 5.0 level.

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

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