Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-02

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, many people believe that the use of plastic products are harmful for the environment. This essay will discuss the harmful effects of plastic on the environment and what steps an individual and authorities should take to minimize this problem.

The main reason why the plastic is harmful, it causes land and water pollution. Plastic waste accumulates in the water bodies like lakes, ponds, oceans and rivers. It takes hundreds of years to decompose and harms the ecosystem. For instance, hundreds of plastic bottles and bags end up in beaches and waterways, contaminating it and clogging it every year. Moreover, the city's drainage system also gets affected due to plastic which disrupts the day-to-day working.

Another reason is, it harms the wildlife. Animals mistakes plastic as food and consume it, this leads in animal's digestion problems and can even cause death. Many news feed also shows the marine creatures getting trapped in plastic waste and only few of them gets rescued by people. Moreover, many fauna dies due to chocking, starvation, and injuries. For instance, Sea Turtles often swallow plastic bags as it resembles to jellyfish.

To minimize this problem, people and authorities should take actions like plastic products should be banned, use of paper products should be encouraged. In schools, colleges and even on the streets, campaigns should take place educating people and discussing the harmful effects of plastics

To conclude, plastic products poses problems to ecosystem, wildlife, and many more areas. It causes water and land pollution. To minimize this problem people and government should take strict actions and ban the use plastic products and should educate people not to use plastic.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, identifying environmental damage and suggesting solutions for both governments and individuals. The ideas are relevant, such as the impact on marine life and the need for educational campaigns. However, the development is somewhat limited; for instance, the solutions section is brief and lacks specific detail on how governments could implement bans or how individuals can change their habits beyond general suggestions. To reach a higher band, you should expand on your examples and provide more depth in your explanations, ensuring that the link between the problem and the proposed solution is more clearly articulated.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. There is a basic progression of ideas from the problem to the solutions. However, the use of cohesive devices is sometimes mechanical or repetitive, such as the frequent use of 'Moreover' and 'For instance'. Additionally, some transitions between sentences are slightly abrupt, such as in the second paragraph where the link between drainage systems and daily working could be smoother. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring that referencing (e.g., 'it', 'this') is always precise would enhance the flow of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing you to communicate your ideas clearly. You use some topic-specific terms like 'decompose', 'ecosystem', and 'marine creatures'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'Animals mistakes plastic' (should be 'mistake') and 'resembles to jellyfish' (should be 'resembles jellyfish'). The range is somewhat limited, and you rely on basic phrasing in several places. To improve, try to incorporate more precise academic vocabulary and ensure that your word forms are used correctly in context.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'plastic products are', 'plastic... it causes', 'few of them gets') and pluralization. Punctuation is also inconsistent, with some run-on sentences and comma splices. While these errors do not significantly impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. Focusing on proofreading for basic agreement and sentence boundaries will help you achieve greater accuracy.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.