Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-07-26

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Plastic bags, plastic bottles and plastic packaging are bad for the environment.

What damage does plastic do to the environment?

What can be done by governments and individuals to solve this problem?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

 

Student answer (Band 7.0)

Concerns for depleting the environment using plastic bags, bottles and packaging are becoming common. This essay will state the issue of the trend and will give optimal solution to mitigate this situation.

To commence with, the problem behind the use of plastic is, it degrades the soil quality. To elaborate, since plastic is not decomposable like other materials such as paper or wood, it stays in soil for myriad years or possibly forever depending on the grade of the plastic. Additionally, microorganisms, which makes soil fertile does not feed on plastics and they disappear gradually due to presence of non-decomposable items . As a result, soil looses its nutrients required for agricultural purpose. To exemplify, a survey was contact by the Agricultural Association of India in 2022, reports showed that towns and villages who discarded the use of plastics have significantly improved their agricultural output. Furthermore, plastics are causing severe damage to ocean life as well. To expound, since plastics are non-decomposable and due to lack of suitable waste management in myriad countries

, they are washed away to the oceans, which causes considerable damage to the aquatic creatures as they accidentally try to eat it, thinking of a food. Consequently, causing danger to their existence.

To address the second question, plausible solution is, government should make strict rules for managing plastic waste. This means, they should implement policies on how garbage plastics

by providing suitable guidelines in the society. Additionally, they should also implement high plenties for defaulters. As a result, people will discard plastics appropriately. Moreover, governments can also run awareness programs for educating the people about demerits of using plastic bags and packaging.

To conclude, this essay has discussed that, contamination of soil and danger to the aquatic life are the issues and it has also highlighted solutions such as implementing ardent rules to manage plastic waste and educating citizens about the drawbacks of using plastic are required to alleviate the problem.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, identifying environmental damage (soil degradation and harm to marine life) and proposing solutions (government regulation and public awareness). The ideas are relevant and generally well-developed. However, the development of the solutions section is slightly less detailed than the problem section. For example, the suggestion to 'implement policies on how garbage plastics' is incomplete and lacks clarity. While the position is clear throughout, the essay would benefit from more specific, concrete examples of government policies beyond just 'strict rules' to reach a higher band. Overall, the task is fully addressed with a clear structure.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is logically organized into clear paragraphs, each with a distinct focus. Cohesive devices such as 'To commence with', 'Additionally', 'Furthermore', and 'To conclude' are used to guide the reader through the argument. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and there are instances where the flow is interrupted by awkward phrasing, such as 'To address the second question, plausible solution is'. Referencing is generally clear, though some sentences are slightly disjointed due to grammatical errors. The paragraphing is appropriate, and the progression of ideas from the problem to the solution is logical and easy to follow.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, including terms like 'degradable', 'microorganisms', 'agricultural output', and 'alleviate'. There are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'myriad years' (usually 'many years' or 'countless years'), 'contact' instead of 'conducted', and 'high plenties' instead of 'heavy penalties'. These errors do not impede communication, but they do limit the precision of the writing. To improve, the student should focus on using more natural collocations and ensuring that vocabulary is used in the correct context.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the student attempts complex sentences, there are frequent grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('microorganisms, which makes soil fertile') and missing articles or prepositions ('discarded the use of plastics', 'thinking of a food'). Punctuation is generally functional, though there are some awkward sentence constructions that affect readability. Despite these errors, the meaning is consistently clear, and the errors do not cause significant difficulty for the reader. A greater focus on proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy would help elevate the score.

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