Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-06

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 6.0)

In recent times, people are pretty much concerned about the environmental hazards of plastic. Past few decades show an increasing trend of plastic usage in almost every other product including bags, bottles and other household essentials. Plastic produces deleterious effects on environment due to its non biodegradable nature. The disposal of plastic has become extremely challenging that leads to visibility of plastic waste in different places including parks, roads, rivers and even housing colonies. Manufacturing of this product include certain harmful chemicals that pose threat to environment in several different ways. Our water bodies and agricultural lands both counter the damage produced by plastic, therefore, the marine life and fertile land for crops is under heavy decline. Several species under water are among endangered species today and infusion of chemicals in lands pose a threat to their fertility. Moreover, drinking water in plastic containers leads to several health issues. Both government and civilians should take equal responsibility to manage this problem. Considering the harms of plastic its usage should be restricted, primarily by introducing decent alternatives. Government should encourage the utilization of paper and glass to replace plastic. There is a need to promote the trend of paper shopping bags and paper straws to save the environment in long run. Special law and order is required at this time and this issue should be taken under serious consideration. Civilians should also play their part in limiting the use of plastic products in daily life. For instance, if people replace plastic water bottles with glass certain harms can be avoided. I would like to conclude with a hope of better laws and alternatives for plastics in future which promote healthy environment.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response successfully addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing the environmental damage caused by plastic and suggesting appropriate solutions for both governments and individuals. However, the development of ideas is uneven. While the impacts of plastic on marine life and fertile land are clearly mentioned, other points such as the health issues related to drinking water are touched upon briefly without sufficient elaboration or examples. Similarly, the suggested solutions, such as introducing decent alternatives like paper and glass, are relevant and coherent, but they tend to remain somewhat general rather than being fully extended with specific scenarios. To reach a higher level, every main idea needs to be thoroughly supported with detailed explanations and concrete real-world examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement and a logical progression of ideas from discussing the problem to proposing solutions and concluding. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Cohesive devices are generally present, but referencing and linking are occasionally mechanical or slightly abrupt, such as moving from agricultural land damage directly to drinking water issues without a smooth transitional marker. The progression within paragraphs is mostly clear, though stronger cohesive links between sentences would elevate the structure. Overall, the text demonstrates a solid organizational foundation that reflects good control over the flow of information.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully conveying the intended meaning regarding environmental issues and plastic waste. The writer attempts some less common lexical items, such as 'deleterious effects', 'non biodegradable nature', and 'endangered species', showing an awareness of topic-specific terminology. However, there are some minor inaccuracies in word choice and phrasing, such as 'that leads to visibility of plastic waste' instead of 'leading to the accumulation of plastic waste', and 'in long run' instead of 'in the long run'. These lexical slips do not impede communication, but to achieve a higher score, more precise phrasing and a wider range of sophisticated, natural collocations are required.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt to vary sentence structures. There are several error-free sentences, such as 'Both government and civilians should take equal responsibility to manage this problem.' However, some grammatical errors and punctuation lapses are present, including missing articles ('on environment', 'in long run'), preposition issues ('pose threat to environment' instead of 'pose a threat to the environment'), and minor punctuation oversights. These errors rarely impede communication and do not obscure the writer's meaning. To improve further, greater control over articles, prepositions, and complex grammatical patterns is needed to ensure more error-free sentences throughout.

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

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