Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-13

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)

It is true that most of the individuals use plastic cans and packages in our daily life which harms the environment badly. Although this happen due to various reasons, i think government and individuals should need to take better action to solve this problems.

On the one hand, there are several reasons why environment damage due to plastic things. First and the foremost, When people throw plastic in sea, it put adverse influence on the marine lives because sometime, they eat it mistakely in turn of which they can lose their lives. In addition to it, If people burn plastic materials, it generate more toxic gaseous which would not only harm the environment, but also humans, because people can suffer from fatal disease including asthma, cancer and respiratory. Moreover, sometime people throw plastic cans on roads when they travel outside, it harm the wild animals because they can eat it as a consequence, they can lose their lives. Along with this, when people throw plastic garbage in sea and beaches, it can block the drain which gives birth flood which put detrimental effect on agriculture.

On the other hand, government and people should need to take effective steps to protect the environment. Firstly, high authorities need to organise campaign for people so they can aware about the environment because some people deprived about harmful effect of use plastic materials. Furthermore, they should arrange some bins in punlic locations and encourage people to throw garbage in bins. Therfore, if people do not follow that rules, they should impose heavy taxes and fines on them. So they feel reluctant to deny that rules. Apart from it, masses should use recycling products and bags instead of using plastic bags so environment can save from toxic gases.

To conclude, while, unawareness and lack of bins are main root of this problem, i believe that authorities and masses must take effective action to minimise that issues so people can live quality of lives.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You address both parts of the question and maintain a clear view that governments and individuals should act. The environmental damage is illustrated with relevant examples: marine animals may ingest plastic, burning it releases harmful substances, and discarded waste can block drains and contribute to flooding. Your proposed responses—public campaigns, bins, penalties and alternatives to plastic—also answer the task. This meets the core requirements, but some points are asserted rather than fully explained. For example, the link between plastic waste and agricultural damage is mentioned briefly, and the suggested fines are not clearly connected to how they would change behaviour. To strengthen the response, explain the consequences and practical impact of each key measure more fully, and make the examples more precise.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay has a clear overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph on environmental harm, a paragraph on solutions, and a conclusion. The contrast between the two main body paragraphs is signposted with “On the one hand” and “On the other hand,” while “First,” “Furthermore” and “Apart from it” help guide the reader. This gives the response a coherent progression. However, some linking is mechanical, and several ideas are joined in long sentences, making relationships less clear—for instance, the sentence about plastic on roads moves quickly from littering to animals dying. The conclusion also repeats the main point without adding a concise synthesis. Use fewer formulaic transitions and divide or reshape sentences so each cause, effect and solution is clearly connected.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use vocabulary relevant to the topic, including “marine lives,” “toxic,” “fatal disease,” “recycling” and “detrimental effect.” These choices show an attempt to go beyond very basic wording. However, inaccurate word choice, collocation and spelling are noticeable and sometimes make the meaning less natural: “plastic cans,” “mistakely,” “punlic locations,” “deprived about” and “root of this problem” are examples. Some expressions are also repeated, particularly “plastic” and “people throw.” This fits a range that is sufficient to communicate the main ideas but not yet consistently controlled. Learn common environmental collocations and check spelling; for example, use “plastic containers,” “public places” and “unaware of the harmful effects.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, using clauses with “because,” “although,” “if” and “while.” This allows you to explain causes and consequences, but control is uneven: complex sentences often contain several errors, and these can make the reader pause. Examples include “this happen,” “it put adverse influence,” “it generate,” and “it can block the drain which gives birth flood.” There are also problems with articles, agreement, plurals and sentence boundaries, as in “government and individuals should need to take” and the long sentence beginning “Moreover, sometime people throw.” Focus on matching subjects and verbs, forming clauses accurately, and separating complete ideas with appropriate punctuation. More reliable sentence patterns will make your arguments easier to follow.

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