Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-14

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)

In this modern era , the use of plastic packaging for bottles and boxes is increasing day by day. In this essay,I will discuss the impacts and solutions to tackle this problem.

Firstly, one of the major impact on tge environment is that it pollute the water and soil.To explain this, people use plastic things for various purposes in daily life but this plastic does not dispose easily.In some countries do not have enough money to recycle this plastic and people through plastic in water whenever they go to the beach and pollutes the water.A typical example of this is that one of the river get blocked due the wastage of plastic bottles.So, it is difficult to clean the river and soil.Most of countries spents a lot of money to recycling the plastic. Therefore,government is spending their money to recycle instead of other things.It will affect on economic growth.

However,there are various strategies to solve this issue. First and foremost is that government should took strict rules and laws. Government put penalties who are using plastic bags.Furthermore,government should increase the price of plastic bags due to this people will stop buying plastic.Government should promote eco-friendly packaging that are safer for environment. Moreover, government should arrange public campaigns to explain the benefits of eco-friendly packaging. Teachers also teach harmful affects of plastic use to kids Therefore,the future generation will know what is good for their environment.

In conclusion, although there are several harmful effects on environmental but if government took strict rules it will be solve easily.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, identifying environmental damage such as water and soil pollution, and proposing solutions involving governments and individuals. The student's position is clear throughout the essay. However, the ideas lack full development and depth. For instance, the discussion on economic impacts ('It will affect on economic growth') is brief and somewhat disconnected. Similarly, the solutions are listed rather than fully extended with robust reasoning or concrete examples. While the prompt's requirements are met successfully in terms of covering both questions, the reasoning remains at a general level, placing the response firmly in Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is generally coherent with a recognizable overall progression. Paragraphing is utilized to separate the introduction, environmental impacts, solutions, and conclusion. Cohesive devices are employed, such as 'Firstly', 'However', 'First and foremost', and 'In conclusion'. However, referencing and cohesion are at times faulty or mechanical, as seen in abrupt transitions and run-on phrasing like 'Kids Therefore,the future generation'. Furthermore, logical links between sentences can be repetitive or weak, such as the repetitive use of 'government should' in the third paragraph. Overall arrangement is clear enough to follow easily, aligning with the Band 6 descriptors.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, successfully incorporating topic-specific terms such as 'eco-friendly packaging', 'pollution', 'recycle', and 'economic growth'. However, there are noticeable lexical inaccuracies and awkward word choices, such as 'dispose easily' instead of 'degrade easily', 'through' instead of 'throw', and 'wastage' instead of 'waste'. Spelling and word-formation errors, such as 'spents' and 'affects' instead of 'effects', occur throughout the text. While communication is not impeded, the frequent lexical errors and limited flexibility prevent the response from achieving a higher band.

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, with frequent errors in tense, subject-verb agreement, and prepositions. Examples include 'one of the major impact', 'some countries do not have' followed by a missing subject connection, 'government should took', and 'government put penalties who are using'. Punctuation is also problematic, with missing spaces after commas and periods throughout the text. These frequent errors cause occasional difficulty for the reader and reflect typical Band 5.0 performance.

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