Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-08

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)

The use of plastic bags, packaging, and bottles has been the primary need of every person in the world, but this contributes to pollute the environment. The use of plastic can cause the pollution in the fresh air, and the government and individuals can tackle this problem by using a paper bags rather than plastic one.

One of the main environmental problems casued by plastic is pollution. When a large amount of plastic is disposed by people or factories, this leaves the black smoke in the open environment. This leads to reducing the quality of fresh air fron the environment, and sometime becoming the cause of serious health problems, such as difficulity in breathing and lung cancer. For example, in developing countries, the index of fresh air quality is very poor because of the excessive dispose of plastic waste by citizens. As a result, they inhaling 30 percent smoke with oxygen every day in their life.

Government must introduce the law to ban plastic bags and bottles, and raise awareness among people to use bags which are made by paper. It has been proved many times that paper can be recycled easier than plastic. In addition, the preparation cost of paper is also cheaper than plastic items. Therefore, people must be awared by running campaings and news media so that the use of plastic materials can be reduced. For example, in Canada, the government puts a high tax on those items which contribute to increase pollution in the environment. As a result, the purchase of those items automatically goes down and envirnoment is kept neat and clean.

In conclusion, although modern time has increased the use of plastic things for popularity, the environment problems must be considered carefully. Therefore, individuals must choose to use paper bags or those bags made by clothes at home, instead of choosing plastic one.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both parts of the question: you identify air pollution and possible health effects, then suggest government restrictions, public awareness, and individual use of paper or cloth bags. The examples about developing countries and Canada help make the response relevant. However, the explanation of environmental damage is narrow: plastic is mainly linked to smoke and poor air quality, while effects such as harm to wildlife, waterways, or long-term accumulation are not explored. Some claims, including the figure about inhaling “30 percent smoke,” are unclear and unsupported. Your solutions also focus heavily on replacing bags, with less detail on bottles and packaging or on how individuals can reduce and recycle plastic. Develop these points more precisely to address the task more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph on damage, a paragraph on solutions, and a conclusion. The main ideas generally appear in a sensible order, and linking expressions such as “For example,” “As a result,” and “In addition” help show relationships. However, some connections are mechanical or unclear. For instance, “This leads to reducing the quality” does not express the relationship smoothly, and the example about air quality is followed by a difficult-to-follow claim about inhaling smoke. The conclusion repeats the recommendation to use alternatives without bringing the main points together. Use clearer referencing and vary how you connect ideas, while ensuring each example directly supports the point before it.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “pollution,” “air quality,” “recycled,” “awareness,” and “tax.” There are also attempts at more specific expressions, such as “excessive dispose of plastic waste,” though the phrasing is inaccurate. Several word-choice and spelling problems reduce precision: “fresh air” is repeated where “air quality” would be more suitable, and “popularity” does not clearly convey the increased use of plastic. Errors such as “casued,” “difficulity,” “campaings,” and “envirnoment” are noticeable. Build a more accurate range of environmental collocations and check spelling and word forms; this would make your meaning more precise without changing the overall structure.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including a conditional structure in “so that the use of plastic materials can be reduced” and a relative clause in “items which contribute to increase pollution.” Most of the message remains understandable, but some grammatical errors affect clarity. For example, “the government and individuals can tackle” is followed by “a paper bags,” and “As a result, they inhaling” lacks a finite verb. Other examples include “plastic is disposed by people” and “the preparation cost of paper is also cheaper,” where sentence patterns are not controlled accurately. Practise articles, subject–verb forms, passive constructions, and verb patterns after “contribute to.” More consistently accurate complex sentences would strengthen the response.

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