Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-01

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)

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 legal requirement. This essay will discuss both aspects before explaining what is my opinion on this.

There are people in our country who don't take care of hygiene and throw waste in the public. Due to this many disease spread all over and people fall ill. People blame government for each and everything that government should take care of hygiene and provide facilities by which the bad waste can be recycled.

Government has provided many facilities but people don't use them and don't follow government rules and when the condition became very harsh, they abuse government. People know what is right and what is wrong but what the issue is that they are not agree to accept. People throw garbage in the rivers and streets, they don't know that this garbage can be recycled and reused and recyclling.

Much quanity of people are literate and can understand everything better and there are some who also follow the rules, but they must make understand those people who are illetrate and don't understand the benfit of recycling. People praise foreign countries in hygenic and cleanliness but they don't learn from those and blame everything on government.

In conclusion, i want to say that government must take legal action on such people and out a fine. By doing this people will be serious and will be concerned. Blaming government and others is not a solution, first we need to make improvement in us and then others can learn.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

The response addresses the prompt only partially, as the discussion frequently drifts away from the core issue of recycling laws into a broader, generalised complaint about public hygiene and littering. For example, paragraphs focus heavily on people throwing waste in the public and streets rather than directly evaluating whether governments should make recycling a legal requirement. The writer's position is not always clearly sustained throughout the essay, with some ideas remaining limited and under-developed. To reach a higher level, the response would need to directly address all parts of the task prompt in a balanced way, fully developing arguments concerning the necessity and feasibility of legal mandates for household recycling with clear, relevant examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

There is some organisation evident in the structure, such as an introduction and a concluding sentence, but there is no clear overall progression of ideas from one paragraph to the next. Cohesive devices are used rather inadequately and repetitively, with sentences often linked by basic conjunctions or missing appropriate transition markers. For instance, the transition between discussing hygiene in paragraph two and government rules in paragraph three feels abrupt. Furthermore, referencing is sometimes unclear, such as the ambiguous use of pronouns when referring to people and the government. To improve, the writer should use a wider and more accurate range of cohesive devices and ensure each paragraph follows a clear logical sequence that builds upon the previous one.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate to convey basic meaning. The writer attempts some less common words and phrases, such as 'legal requirement' and 'hygiene', but there are noticeable errors in word choice, collocation, and word form that occasionally cause difficulty for the reader. Examples include 'bad waste', 'not are agree to accept', 'Much quanity of people', and spelling mistakes like 'illetrate'. Additionally, awkward phrasing such as 'out a fine' instead of 'impose a fine' demonstrates a lack of precision. To achieve a higher band, the writer needs to expand their lexical range, pay closer attention to word formation and collocations, and reduce spelling errors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response displays a very limited range of grammatical structures, relying mostly on simple sentences alongside attempts at complex sentences that are frequently faulty. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including issues with subject-verb agreement ('many disease spread', 'government should take care'), article usage ('the government', 'a legal requirement'), and prepositions. For example, sentences such as 'what is my opinion on this' and 'they must make understand those people' contain structural flaws that can cause difficulty for the reader. To progress, the writer must incorporate a wider variety of complex sentence forms with greater accuracy, ensuring better control over basic grammatical patterns, verb tenses, and sentence boundaries.

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

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