Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-13

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)

it is often argued that the only way to increas recycling is for governments to make it a legal requirement, I strongly agree with this statement for several reasons.

to begin with one of the main reasons is the fact that people belong to their government, that means if a person live in a country he logicaly have rights and dutys according to the law of the country hes living in, if governments took action and decide to make recyclig officialy a legal requirement as a result we will automatically witness a significant positive outcome for the favour of recycling due to the governments law.

furthermore, another important reason is that people will predect incentives from the government followed by tangible rewards , wihch will encourag the people to get really involved this duty, in other words we will have less bins full of trash, more cleaner streets and more safer environment, for inctance the strategy followed by the german governmet to make some recycling machins in all the supermarkets such as lidel, this move made all the people gather all their plastic consumed bottels to bring to the machin and deposit them to get money instead, as a result germany successed to increas the recycling culture.

In conclusion i firmly believe that

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You state a clear position—“I strongly agree”—and give relevant reasons, including the German supermarket bottle-return example. However, the response addresses the question only partially: it does not explain sufficiently why legal requirements are needed, or consider whether laws alone are effective compared with other measures. The claim that people “belong to their government” is unclear and does not provide a convincing reason. The conclusion is unfinished (“In conclusion i firmly believe that”), so your final position is not fully restated. The response contains 203 words, which is 47 words below the 250-word minimum; 10 words copied from the task prompt were not counted. Develop each reason with a clear explanation and complete the essay.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

Your response has a basic overall structure: an introduction, two body paragraphs signalled by “to begin with” and “furthermore,” and an attempted conclusion. These markers help readers identify the main sections. However, progression within the paragraphs is sometimes difficult to follow. For example, the connection between government laws and people’s rights and duties is not made clear, while the second body paragraph moves from incentives to cleaner streets and then to Germany without fully explaining the links. Some transitions, such as “as a result” and “in other words,” are used mechanically or do not precisely express the relationship between ideas. The conclusion is incomplete, which also leaves the essay without a clear ending. Organise each paragraph around one reason and explain its steps in sequence.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some topic-related vocabulary, including “legal requirement,” “tangible rewards,” “recycling culture,” and “environment,” and the German deposit-return example gives you an opportunity to use precise terms. However, the range is limited and several word-choice or spelling errors make parts of the response harder to understand, such as “predect incentives,” “more cleaner streets,” and “recyclig officialy.” Some expressions are also unnatural: “people belong to their government” does not clearly convey your intended point, and “get really involved this duty” is not idiomatic. Aim for accurate collocations and check spelling carefully. More precise language for laws, enforcement, household waste, and incentives would help you explain your argument clearly without relying on repeated general terms such as “people” and “government.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt longer sentences using clauses and linking phrases, for example, “if governments took action and decide to make recyclig…a legal requirement.” This shows an effort to express relationships between ideas, but complex sentences are often faulty, and errors occur frequently enough to make some passages difficult to follow. In that example, the conditional structure and verb forms do not agree; the sentence also runs on through several ideas. Other issues include subject–verb agreement in “a person live,” missing or incorrect articles, and punctuation that joins independent clauses with commas. The unfinished final sentence is another structural problem. Use shorter, controlled sentences first, then add subordinate clauses, checking verb agreement, tense consistency, articles, and sentence boundaries.

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