Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-09

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)

Use of plastic materials have been rising and causing threat to the environment. I totally agree that plastic should be banned or atleast its usage should be kept to a minimal. Plastic damage the ecosystem in a number of ways.

Firstly, most of the items manufactured from plastics are non-degradable. It means that the products made of plastic cannot be broken down into simpler components for degradation process.

Secondly, there is always a need to dispose off the garbage in a proper way. Plastics are so common to use that it is becoming difficult to deal with its waste management process. It is the most used material both by the consumers and the buyers. So, even if a particular category controls the usage of plastics within its limits, probably it won't give the same output from the other side.

Thirdly, plastics have disturbed the marine ecosystem. Every year thousands tons of plastics is dumped into the water bodies. It forms a layer on the aquatic plants that hinders the supply of oxygen to the marine life resulting in the death of aquatic animals.

On the other hand, the government should introduce policies to ban the usage of plastics. This can be done by imposing heavy fine so that people can start using the alternatives.

Additionally, various awareness campaings should be organized by the authority to help people understands the potential harmful effects of using plastics in daily routine.

Moreover, colour-coded dustbins should be installed in every corner of the community with proper labelling so that it is easier for people to dispose the relevant plastic materials into it.

People should also cooperative with the government and start using paper bags and glass bottles instead of plastic bags and bottles respectively.

All in all, government policies and individual efforts in a balanced way is a more sustainable approach to overcome this problem.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You address both parts of the question and maintain a clear position that plastic use should be restricted. The environmental effects are relevant: you explain that plastic persists as waste and describe how it can affect aquatic plants and marine animals. You also offer several responses, including government fines, awareness campaigns, labelled bins and individual use of alternatives. This meets the task well, but some points are more fully explained than others. The marine-life impact has a cause-and-effect explanation, whereas the first point mainly defines non-degradability, and the proposed ban and alternatives would benefit from specific examples or explanation of how effective they would be. More balanced development across the damage and solutions would strengthen the response.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The response has a clear overall progression: it introduces the issue, presents three environmental effects, moves to government action and individual responsibility, and ends with a concise conclusion. Sequencing phrases such as “Firstly,” “Secondly,” “Thirdly,” and “Additionally” make the structure easy to follow, and the final sentence brings the two groups’ roles together. However, the repeated list-style transitions make some connections feel mechanical. The second damage paragraph also shifts from waste management to consumers and buyers without clearly explaining the relationship between these points. Grouping related ideas into more developed paragraphs and using referencing or cause-and-effect links more flexibly would make the progression smoother.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of topic vocabulary, including “non-degradable,” “waste management,” “marine ecosystem,” “aquatic plants,” and “alternatives.” These terms help communicate the main environmental concerns, and the meaning is generally clear. There are, however, several inaccurate or awkward choices and spelling errors that limit precision: “threat to the environment” would be more natural as “threat to the environment” with an article, while “dispose off” should be “dispose of”; “campagings” is misspelled, and “cooperative” is not the correct form in “People should also cooperative.” Some phrases, such as “same output from the other side,” are unclear. More accurate collocations and careful proofreading would improve control.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including a relative clause in “products made of plastic cannot be broken down” and a result structure in “resulting in the death of aquatic animals.” Most ideas remain understandable, but some grammatical errors recur. For example, “Use of plastic materials have been rising” has subject–verb agreement and article problems; “Plastic damage” should be “Plastic damages,” and “thousands tons … is dumped” has errors in plural form and agreement. There are also faulty verb patterns, as in “help people understands” and “People should also cooperative.” The final sentence has a singular-plural mismatch in “efforts … is.” Check agreement, verb forms and sentence patterns carefully while continuing to use varied structures.

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