Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-14

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)

Some people thoughts that not all the waste from their homes get properly recycled untill governmnet make some law or announce some rewards for recyling. I fully agreed with this point because of the follwing main reasons.

One of the main reason is that when there is a proper law for recycling and people know that they can get support from the government to recycle the waste, only then they get motivated and focus on recycling more things. For example, If government announce that a person who recylce an empty bottle, He will get one penny per bottle, then people know they will get some reward in return to recycling.

In addition to this, a proper working plan should be introduced to get more things recylced. Government should introduce a machnaisam to enhance recylcing products. Government needs to spread awarness about recycling things. They need to place a dustbins which are dedicated to things who get recylced, For instance, a dedicated dusbins for plastics matterial things, which only collects the plastic and then later on this dustbin get collected and go straight to a plastic recycling plant.

In conculsion, I strongly agree and support the view that government should make law for recyling to get more things recycled as it encourages and motivate more people to foucs on recycling waste materials.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is clear: you strongly support government action, and you give relevant reasons, including financial incentives and dedicated recycling bins. The bottle-payment example helps illustrate how rewards might motivate households. However, the response only partly develops the question of whether laws are needed: it shifts between legal requirements, rewards, public awareness and infrastructure without explaining how these measures relate or whether laws alone are sufficient. The ideas remain general, and the second body paragraph mainly lists actions rather than explaining their likely impact. The response is also 29 words below the required minimum, which limits the space available to develop your reasoning. Explain the role of legal penalties or requirements and support your position with a fuller, specific example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, two body paragraphs and a conclusion. Linking phrases such as “One of the main reason,” “In addition to this” and “In conclusion” help signal the stages of your argument. However, progression within the body paragraphs is sometimes unclear: the first moves from laws to government support and then to a reward, while the second combines planning, awareness and bins without showing how these points connect. Repeated references to “government” and recycling also make the writing feel repetitive, and “they” in “They need to place” has an unclear reference. Organise each paragraph around one main idea, then explain and exemplify it in a clear sequence.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “recycling,” “dedicated,” “reward” and “recycling plant,” so the reader can follow the subject. However, the range is limited and several word-choice or spelling problems reduce precision, such as “support … to recycle the waste,” “enhance recycling products” and “plastic matterial things.” There are also repeated misspellings, including “recylce,” “awarness” and “foucs,” which make the response less fluent to read. Aim for accurate, natural collocations and vary repeated terms: for example, use “recycling facilities” rather than “a dustbins … dedicated to things,” and “household waste” instead of repeatedly saying “things.” Proofreading spelling would also improve clarity.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more extended sentences, including a conditional example beginning “If government announce…” and a relative clause in “a person who recylce an empty bottle.” However, control is limited, and errors occur frequently enough to make some sentences awkward or difficult to process. Examples include “Some people thoughts,” “not all the waste … get properly recycled,” and “a person … He will get,” where agreement, verb forms and sentence construction are not controlled. Articles and plurals are also problematic in “place a dustbins,” while the long sentence about the bottle reward needs clearer punctuation and structure. Practise accurate subject–verb agreement and build complex sentences from shorter, correct clauses before adding extra detail.

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

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