Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-07-27

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 6.5)

In recent years, plastic congestion has become a serious problem. Use of plastic such as bags, bottles and packaging is detrimental for environment. This situation creates several challenges such as reduce fertility of soil, air pollution and health diseases but there are effective measures that can be taken to overcome it by using ecofriendly alternatives such as paper, cloth and metal.

To begin with, one of the major problems created by plastic is air pollution. plastic release harmful gases in the air which effect environment badly as well as effect living things directly or indirectly. In addition to it, use of plastic damage the fertility of soil. To explain it, plastic do not decompose in soil, it blocks the movement of water and air. Moreover, health issue is one the issues of use of plastic. To simplify it, people use plastic as bottles for drinking water and for packaging foods which contaminate in food or hot beverage which put negative effect on health.

To solve these problems, individuals should reduce the use of plastic. They can use cloth or paper bags instead of using plastic bags which are recyclable. Additionally, rather than using plastic containers they can use paper containers for food which do not effect health. However, authorities should take steps to control the use of plastic so they can prevent the environment an life of humans as well as animals.

To wrap up, fertility loss of soil and health disease are some issues with use of plastic which can be curve with neglecting the use of plastic with using paper, metal. All in all government should ban plastic for safety of environment.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, identifying environmental damage (air pollution, soil fertility, health issues) and proposing solutions (individual and government action). The ideas are relevant, though the development is somewhat repetitive and lacks depth. For example, the explanation of health issues is brief and could be better supported with more specific examples or logical progression. While the position is clear, the arguments would benefit from more sophisticated elaboration to move beyond a basic level of explanation. Overall, the response meets the requirements of the task effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'To begin with', 'In addition to it', and 'To wrap up', which help guide the reader. However, some transitions are mechanical or slightly awkward, such as 'To simplify it' or 'To explain it'. The progression of ideas is generally clear, but the internal structure of some sentences is slightly disjointed, which occasionally affects the flow. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the problem from the solution.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing the student to communicate their ideas clearly. There is some repetition of basic terms like 'plastic' and 'use'. While there are attempts to use topic-specific vocabulary such as 'decompose', 'contaminate', and 'ecofriendly', the range is somewhat limited. Some word choices are slightly inaccurate or unnatural, such as 'plastic congestion' (which is not a standard collocation) and 'curve' instead of 'curbed'. The errors do not impede communication, but they do limit the score in this criterion.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'plastic release', 'plastic do not decompose') and article usage (e.g., 'the fertility of soil', 'the environment an life'). Punctuation is generally functional, but there are some missing commas and awkward phrasing that require the reader to re-read for clarity. While the meaning is usually clear, the frequency of these errors prevents the essay from reaching a higher band score.

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