Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-22

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, a large amount of household waste is not recycled properly.Some people belive that governmants should introduce laws to encourage people to recycle more. I largely agree with this view because legal rules can change people's behaviour although public awareness is also important.

Firstly, Some many people throw bottles and other waste garbage on roads , river and other placse. If government makes stric lows about that then so many people are change their habits and also change their behaviour and they aware about household waste how to properly recycled, for example many people use plastic bottles after use they throw but thay can not understand plastic can not be decameposed if government makes rule about that then people use plastic bottles for flower pots.

On the other hand, only lows can not solve the problem.Governments should also educate the public about the benefits of recycling and provide separate bins in residential areas.If recycling facilities are easily available, people will find it more convenient to follow the rules.For example,schools can teach children how to reuse materials and separate different types of waste.schools can teach children how to reuse materials and separate different types of waste. Children may then encourage their family members to develop better recycling habits.Therefore, education and suitable facilities should support legal requirements.

In conclusion, I believe that laws are necessary to increase household recycling because they encourage people to act responsibly. However, governments should combine these rules with public education and convenient recycling facilities to achieve better long-term results.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear: you largely agree that laws are needed, while recognising that awareness and facilities also matter. You address both the case for legal rules and the limits of relying on them alone, and your examples about plastic bottles, school education and separate bins are relevant. This covers the main parts of the question. However, some points are asserted rather than fully explained. For instance, the link between stricter laws and people reusing bottles as flower pots is not made clear, and the first body paragraph shifts between littering and household recycling. Develop each example by explaining how it would increase the amount of household waste recycled and how enforcement would work.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, two contrasting body paragraphs and a conclusion. The progression from laws to complementary measures is logical, and phrases such as “On the other hand” and “In conclusion” help signal the stages of the argument. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical, with repeated use of “and” and “then,” and some links between ideas are unclear. The first body paragraph moves from waste on roads and rivers to household recycling without a clear transition. The repeated sentence about schools also interrupts the flow. Use clearer topic sentences, remove duplicated material, and make each paragraph develop one central point with explicit links between the example and your argument.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “household waste,” “recycling facilities,” “public education” and “legal requirements,” so the main ideas are generally understandable. However, the range is limited and several spelling and word-choice errors make the writing less precise, such as “belive,” “governmants,” “stric lows” and “decameposed.” Some combinations are also unnatural, including “waste garbage” and “how to properly recycled.” Repetition of “people,” “change” and “teach children” further restricts variety. Build a more accurate set of recycling-related terms and check spelling and collocations; this will help you express the same relevant ideas more clearly and flexibly.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including a conditional sentence beginning “If government makes…” and a contrastive clause with “although.” The overall meaning is usually recoverable, but some grammatical errors affect clarity. For example, “so many people are change their habits” has an incorrect verb form, while “they aware” is missing a verb. There are also problems with articles, agreement and sentence boundaries, as in “If government makes” and “Some many people.” Punctuation and capitalisation are inconsistent, with missing spaces after full stops and an unnecessary capital in “Firstly, Some.” Practise accurate conditional structures and complete clauses, then proofread sentence boundaries and basic agreement.

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