Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-19

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 5.0)

Plastis bags are non-biodegradable materials, which will sustain in the ground for more than 1000 years for it to decay. This affects the microbial growth at ground level. damaging the ecosystem. Not only it affects the soil, it also affects in bulking up of the plastic over the years, leaving no place for water to seep in to produce ground water. In cities of India, it is infamous to see cows eating plastics thinking it as food, causing huge casualities in the domestic animals. This issue has severly affected in our day to day lives, where we are forced to posses plastic items for bottle, micro-wave oven and lunchbox. One more example of plastics getting into the digestive systems of human beings is through the consumption of microplastics being consumed from the reaction of hot food in plastics. Goverment can come up with the intitiatives like jute bags, plastics bags, say-no-to-plastic campaigns inorder to curb the usage of plastics. There has been growing interest in using plastics to fill up pothholes in the streets of bengaluru, which is another example of using plastic for good public use.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You address both parts of the question by describing environmental harm and suggesting government action. Relevant examples include plastic obstructing water seepage, cows eating discarded plastic, and microplastics entering food. However, the response is under the required 250 words, which limits how fully you can explain and support these points. The solutions are especially brief: “jute bags” and campaigns are mentioned, but the role of individuals is not clearly developed, and the suggestion about using plastic in potholes needs explanation of its benefits or limitations. To strengthen the response, explain each effect and solution with a clear cause-and-result link, and include specific actions individuals can take, such as reusing containers or sorting waste.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

The ideas are generally relevant and there is a basic progression from environmental damage to possible responses. Linking expressions such as “Not only” and “One more example” help signal additions. However, the response is presented as one continuous paragraph, so the shift from damage to solutions is not clearly marked. Some connections are also awkward or unclear, particularly the move from plastic’s effects on soil to the claim that it leaves no place for water to seep in. The final example about filling potholes appears suddenly and is not linked to the proposed government measures. Use separate paragraphs for the two task questions, and make each example’s relationship to the main point explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some topic-specific vocabulary, including “non-biodegradable,” “ecosystem,” “microplastics,” and “digestive systems,” which helps communicate the subject. There are also attempts at more precise expressions such as “ground water” and “domestic animals.” However, spelling errors and inaccurate or unnatural word combinations are noticeable, including “casualities,” “severly,” “possess plastic items,” and “bulking up of the plastic.” These sometimes make the intended meaning less clear. Aim for accurate collocations and check spelling carefully; for example, describe plastic as accumulating in soil rather than “bulking up,” and say people are required to use certain plastic products rather than “forced to posses” them.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts some complex structures, including the opening relative clause (“which will sustain in the ground…”) and the contrastive construction beginning “Not only.” These show an effort to vary sentence forms. However, several sentences contain faulty structures that make relationships between ideas difficult to follow. For example, “This affects the microbial growth at ground level. damaging the ecosystem” leaves a fragment after the full stop, while “Not only it affects the soil” has an incorrect word order for this construction. There are also problems with articles, prepositions, and sentence boundaries. Practise building complete sentences and checking that each clause has a clear subject and verb; simpler, accurate phrasing would improve clarity.

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

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