Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-25

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 5.5)

Now a days, metropolitan cities are concerned about plastic wastage, it increases plastic pollution in the areas where individuals are living. Plastics for instance bags, bottles and packaging affect negative impact on environment.

In fast paced and fast growing areas people frequently use plastics for their daily lifestyles it enhance use of plastics and waste of plastics. And plastic doesn’t biodegrade ,due to that, it’s hard to reduce waste of plastics. It’s impact on animals like cow, goat, dogs , however they eat it and damage their organs. Moreover to that when plastic burns it releases chemicals that cause cancer and other illnesses.

In my opinion, government should banned to use of plastics instead of that encourage people to use reusable paper bags and also organise campaigns to awareness about plastic pollution, especially its negative or positive effects on the environment.

However, school or university have to be organised workshops or extra activity classes for environmental protection purposes to ensure the safety of the environment. Since 10 years algo china was very curious about their environment safety due to plastic uses but government apply strict rules and banned use of plastics completely, now The china is the first country free from plastics. So authorities have to learn lessons from china and have to be strict to make society free from plastics completely.

In conclusion, plastic pollution is dangerous for humans as well as animals life, to reduce or eliminate it from our society every person have to be responsible and follow the government rules to get better health and environment.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: the environmental damage caused by plastic and potential solutions from governments and individuals. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. While you mention the impact on animals and health, these points are brief. The solution section is more detailed, though the example of China is factually questionable and lacks nuance. To improve, aim to expand on your points with more specific explanations or logical consequences rather than listing them. The position is clear, but the overall depth of analysis is more consistent with a Band 5.5 or 6.0 level.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. You use some cohesive devices such as 'Moreover', 'In my opinion', and 'In conclusion' to link ideas. However, the flow between sentences is sometimes mechanical, and there are instances where the progression of ideas feels slightly disjointed, such as the transition between the environmental impact and the government solutions. Referencing is occasionally unclear, and the use of cohesive devices could be more varied and natural to improve the overall flow of the argument.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing you to convey your meaning clearly. You use some topic-specific terms like 'biodegrade', 'pollution', and 'reusable'. However, there are several instances of awkward word choice and collocation errors, such as 'plastic wastage' instead of 'plastic waste', 'affect negative impact' instead of 'have a negative impact', and 'organise campaigns to awareness' instead of 'raise awareness'. These errors are noticeable but do not prevent the reader from understanding your main points. Expanding your range of collocations would help reach a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including issues with subject-verb agreement ('government should banned', 'school or university have to be organised'), article usage ('The china'), and sentence fragments. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are persistent and occur in both simple and complex structures. To improve, focus on mastering basic verb forms and ensuring that your sentence construction follows standard English rules, particularly regarding passive voice and modal verbs.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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