Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-12

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)

Nowadays, usage of plastic bags ,bottles and packaging is strongly increasing in the world. Everyone purchase their useful needs from market and carry them in plastic bags. However, these are non-decomposable. It become a significant problem for the health of living beings, environment.

The main issue that lead by these plastic bottle and bags is pollution. It badly affect the environment ,ecosystem and the air consumed by livings beings. People throw or burn them after their use , in open area . It gives rise to numerous diseases such as problem in breathing , growth of tress stopped , air get polluted. Moreover, some of the industries throw plastic bottles directly into the water sources such as ponds ,lakes, rivers and oceans. It make the water as non drinkable. For instance, it have examined by recently conducted survey by government of Nepal that approximately 56% of animals were died and almostly,45% of species get extincted in this whole world .

In order to improve this main problem, government should implement strict rules regarding usage of plastic bags or bottles. Authorities have to legally charged the person using plastic materials for their use. As human beings using plastic bags on daily basis .So, government should allow inspectors to timely checked all the areas and conduct the surveys . It will definitely help to tackle this problem that negatively affect the environment and humans.

To summarize,.the use of plastic bags ,bottles and packaging of materials done by plastic should be banned . It is not appropriate for the health of humans and animals. Government cab definitely solve the problem by implementing rules in order to stop usage of plastic bags.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by identifying the environmental damage caused by plastic and suggesting solutions for both governments and individuals. The position is clear throughout the essay. However, some ideas are under-developed or supported by unconvincing claims, such as the specific statistical percentages cited in the second paragraph ('56% of animals were died'). The consequences of plastic pollution are mentioned, but the elaboration remains somewhat repetitive and relies on basic generalisations. While all prompt requirements are met, the depth of task fulfilment places this response securely at Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is generally coherent with a clear overall arrangement into an introduction, body paragraphs addressing the specific questions, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate different aspects of the task. However, cohesion is at times faulty and mechanical, with awkward transitions like 'The main issue that lead by these plastic bottle and bags' and 'To summarize,.the use of plastic bags'. Referencing and logical progression between sentences occasionally falter, such as the abrupt shift to government solutions in the third paragraph. These features are characteristic of Band 6 performance.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, touching upon environmental topics with terms like 'non-decomposable', 'ecosystem', and 'water sources'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors, awkward word choices, and morphological mistakes throughout the text, such as 'usage' instead of 'use', 'tress' instead of 'trees', 'extincted' instead of 'extinct', and 'legally charged' instead of 'fined'. Spelling and word-formation errors occur regularly, though they rarely impede overall communication. This matches the Band 5.5 to 6.0 profile, leaning towards a solid Band 5.5 due to the frequency of non-standard collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional structures. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, featuring frequent errors in tense consistency, subject-verb agreement, and prepositions. Examples include 'Everyone purchase', 'issue that lead by', 'air get polluted', 'it have examined', and 'As human beings using plastic bags on daily basis .So, government should allow'. These frequent errors in basic and intermediate structures frequently cause difficulty and prevent the response from achieving a higher band, placing it clearly at Band 5.0.

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

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