Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

Many individuals have raised a concern over the fact that their daily waste is not being recycled properly, according to them, the enforcement of government policies are the only solution to increase recycling. I strongly agree with this view, that governement policies are absolutely necessary to ensure that individuals are recycling their waste properly by inforcing fines. Furthermore, in addition to government fines, public awareness about recycling should also be circulated.

The most substantial argument for this is that without government policies and imposed fines, the public cannot be inforced to recycle their waste properly. Countries such as Germany and Japan, have very strict rules about recycling it's garbage which eventually forces their citizens to adhere to these rules and ultimately improving their environment from the different types of polllutions such as land and water pollution, which is a result of waste not being recycled properly.

Furthermore, government officials should also launch different awareness programs through out the country for encouraging individuals to properly recycle their waste on a daily basis. For example, the government of UK has placed various recycling bins around the nation, where citizens can dispense their plastic waste and get incentivized in return. For each bottle they recycle, the get some pounds, which has encourage the UK citizens to actively participate in the recycling activity.

In conclusion, governement bodies has a very vital role to play to make recycling part of their culture by imposing various fines and also educating the public and incentivizing their active participation. This will ultimately result in the world being less polluted and a better place for everyone.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

Your position is clear from the introduction: you strongly support government rules and fines, while also arguing for public awareness and incentives. You address the question directly and support your view with examples involving Germany, Japan and the UK. The conclusion also reinforces the main argument. This fits a response that covers the task and gives relevant support. To strengthen the development further, explain more precisely how legal requirements change household behaviour—for instance, how rules are monitored or what happens when people do not comply. The country examples are useful, but claims such as strict rules improving the environment would be more convincing if you explained the link or gave a specific illustration. The discussion of incentives also broadens the answer beyond laws, so clarify how these measures complement legal requirements.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction states your position, two body paragraphs develop supporting points, and a conclusion summarises them. Ideas progress logically from enforcement to awareness and incentives. Linking expressions such as “Furthermore,” “For example,” and “In conclusion” help readers follow the argument, and each paragraph has a recognisable focus. To make the progression more flexible, avoid relying on “Furthermore” to introduce both the second main point and the opening of the next paragraph. Some links between claims could also be made more explicit: explain how the UK incentive example supports your view about laws, rather than leaving the relationship for the reader to infer. Overall, organisation is clear, though cohesion is occasionally formulaic.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “recycling,” “imposed fines,” “public awareness,” “incentivized,” and “pollution,” and the meaning is generally understandable. There are also attempts at more formal phrasing, such as “the most substantial argument.” However, word choice, collocation and spelling errors are noticeable and sometimes make the expression awkward: “inforced” is used where “compelled” or “required” is intended, “dispense their plastic waste” is not the natural collocation, and “polllutions” is misspelled. “Government policies” is repeated often, limiting the range. Aim for accurate, natural combinations such as “enforce recycling regulations,” “deposit plastic bottles,” and “reduce pollution,” and check spelling carefully. Greater precision would make your argument sound more fluent and controlled.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mixture of sentence forms, including complex clauses with “which” and “where,” and the overall meaning can usually be followed. However, errors in agreement, verb forms, articles and sentence construction are frequent enough to limit accuracy. For example, “the enforcement of government policies are” should use a singular verb, while “which has encourage” needs a past participle. In “Germany and Japan, have,” the comma incorrectly separates the subject from its verb; “recycling it's garbage” also uses an incorrect possessive form. The opening sentence is long and awkwardly joined, and the comma after “view” disrupts the clause that follows. Practise building shorter, accurate sentences first, then combine ideas using controlled relative and subordinate clauses.

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