Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-02

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)

The excessive use of plastic in bags, bottles and packaging is extremly dangerous for environment. The usage of non-recycling

plastic products has damaged the soil fertilization and polluted water specifically. A governments policies and people awareness about the use of plastic would be the key solution to this issue.

To begin with, most of plastic products are made of non-biodegrade material which means, tons of plastic waste sits under the ground and in water for a thousand of years without decomposing which has led the problem of low soil fertilization and polluted oceans. As a result, many lands lost the ability to produce good quality crops and not only that but because of water pollution, water spiecies and human are suffering for clean water.

In order to solve this problem, I believe, governments should make a policies for giant companies to use the biodegrade plastic which can be benefit to society and companies. For instance, in many countries such as India has banned the non-recycling plastic products and bags to reduce plastic waste and in favour, the government has provided incentives to companies. Another point to consider is to spread awareness on this serious topic in the society. Such as advertisement of the campeign by famous stars that can help the citizen to adapt the culture of say no to plastic.

In conclusion, Plastic waste is a rising concern in todays time as plastic use has created a problem such as dead lands and a polluted oceans which can be solved by the practice of no plastic use and government policies with the benefits to everyone including citizens and businesses.

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 and clearly presented. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited; for instance, the explanation of how plastic affects soil fertilization is brief and could be more detailed. While the position is clear throughout, the supporting examples, such as the mention of India, are helpful but could be integrated more smoothly to fully explore the impact of the suggested solutions. Overall, the response meets the requirements of the task well, though it remains at a general level of discussion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized into clear paragraphs, each with a distinct focus. The progression of ideas is easy to follow, moving from the problem to potential solutions and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'To begin with', 'For instance', and 'In conclusion', which help guide the reader. However, some transitions are slightly mechanical, and there are minor issues with referencing and sentence-level cohesion, such as the phrase 'in favour, the government has provided'. Despite these minor flaws, the paragraphing is appropriate and the overall structure supports the argument effectively.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The range of vocabulary is adequate for the task, covering environmental topics such as 'non-biodegradable', 'incentives', and 'pollution'. There are some noticeable errors in word choice and form, such as 'soil fertilization' (instead of soil fertility), 'water spiecies' (spelling error), and 'biodegrade material' (should be biodegradable). While these errors do not impede communication, they indicate a lack of precision in using less common lexical items. To reach a higher band, you should focus on using more accurate collocations and ensuring correct word forms in context.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors throughout the text, such as 'A governments policies' (article and possessive error), 'has led the problem' (preposition missing), and 'in todays time' (missing apostrophe). Additionally, there are issues with subject-verb agreement and article usage. While the meaning is generally clear and the errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the argument, the frequency of these slips prevents the essay from reaching a higher band. Focusing on proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy would significantly improve the score.

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