Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-06

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)

Nowadays, people are arguing that waste from homes is not being recycled and government should take legal action against this by making policies for it to increase the recycling. I believe that laws should be introduced to make people recycle more of their waste as it promotes clean and less polluted environment, and contributes in economy of the country.

When people are obliged to recycle the waste it controls the citizens by making them to prevent throwing waste outside, which in result makes the environment clean and less polluted. When people throw waste, it makes the air vulnerable for people to breath and they might end up catching deaseas. So, when people are deterred by the law to stop throwing waste and recycle, it promotes the healthier environment.

Making laws for recycling waste also helps the country to improve economically. When government enforce these laws people will be compelled for recycling and government can save money for producing things again. That saved money can be used for the development of country. For instance, people started recycling and there is less need of producing the products again, so there will be less expenses. Government can use that money to improve the infrastructure of the country.

In conclusion, I firmly believe that government should create laws for making the citzens to recycle more of their waster as it promotes clean environment and lessens the pollution from the atmostphere. It also makes the country economically better as less expenses would be required for producing things from scratch.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is clear: you support laws requiring recycling, and you give two relevant reasons—protecting the environment and saving public money. The examples about reducing pollution and using savings for infrastructure help address the question. However, the explanation sometimes shifts from recycling household waste to preventing people from throwing rubbish outside, so the link to the specific policy is not always clear. The economic point is also asserted rather than fully explained: clarify how collected materials can be reused and how this reduces production costs. The response is 246 words, four words below the required minimum; the eight words copied from the prompt are excluded. Develop the reasoning further and meet the minimum to address the task more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction states your view, two body paragraphs present separate reasons, and a conclusion restates your position. Linking expressions such as “When,” “For instance,” and “In conclusion” help readers follow the main stages. Some connections are less clear or mechanical, however. In the first body paragraph, the move from recycling to “throwing waste outside” makes the relationship between the law and the environmental benefit difficult to follow. The phrase “which in result” also does not connect the ideas naturally. In the economic paragraph, explain more explicitly how recycling leads to savings before introducing infrastructure spending. Clearer links between each claim and its explanation would improve progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “recycle,” “polluted environment,” “deterred,” “infrastructure,” and “producing things from scratch.” This gives you enough range to communicate your main ideas, although several choices and forms are inaccurate or repetitive. For example, “contributes in economy” is not a natural collocation, and “less expenses” is an imprecise way to describe reduced costs. There are also spelling errors in “deaseas,” “citzens,” “waster,” and “atmostphere,” which make the writing look less controlled. Aim for more precise terms such as “recycling household materials” and “reduce manufacturing costs,” and proofread carefully for spelling and word forms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a conditional structure in “When people are obliged to recycle…” and a reason clause beginning “as it promotes…”. The overall meaning is generally understandable, but errors in sentence construction and grammatical forms recur. For example, “government should take” needs an article or plural subject, “making them to prevent” uses an incorrect verb pattern, and “When government enforce” has a subject–verb agreement error. The sentence beginning “When people throw waste” also has an unclear structure, while “less expenses would be required” is not grammatically well formed. Practise accurate verb patterns, agreement, and articles, then check each sentence for a clear subject and verb.

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