Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-31

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 5.5)

There are many things created by plastic that are harmful for atmosphere such as, bags, bottles, packaging and so on. I will explain types of damage it makes to enivronment as well as what authorities and society can do to solve this issues in upcoming paragraphs.

Almost everyone is aware of plastic damage through social media plus by having own experience's as it creates health related issues. For example, number of people use large amount of plastic in their daily life even to have a food intake in terms of plastic milk bags, utencils made by plastic, it is harmful when you use it for hot food as some particles can go in your body which can create many kind of health related issues many researchers have noticed plastic particles inside human body through their research which leads to have health problems like cancer.

There are several actions that government can take to ovecome this issue.First of all, they need to make certain rule such as, recycle system which will put a full stop on more plastic production at some level. After that, government should encourage individuals to use products maid by other material which is not bad for enivronment. For example, people can use packeging maid by organic waste which help in ways as people can either take a part in making environment harm free by using oranic waste packing or people will not create more waste indiractly by not using stuff maid with plastic.

Overall, environment situation is getting worse with plastic use in every term which can be stopped if authorities and society work together to solve this issue by taking action based on their roles like, government should make rule and society should follow them.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both parts of the question and give a relevant example of possible health effects from plastic used with hot food. You also identify government action, such as recycling rules, and individual action, such as choosing alternative packaging. However, the environmental damage itself is not explained clearly enough: the response focuses mainly on possible harm to human health, rather than describing effects such as pollution of land and water or harm to wildlife. The proposed solutions are relevant but remain general; for instance, explain how a recycling system would reduce plastic waste, and give a more specific example of what individuals can do. Developing these points more fully would make the response more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the problem and solutions, and a concluding summary. This gives the reader an overall route through the answer. Some links are clear, including “For example” and “First of all,” but progression within paragraphs is occasionally difficult to follow because several ideas are joined into long sentences. The health-effects paragraph, for example, moves from everyday plastic use to hot food, particles, research and cancer without clear separation or explanation of the links. The solutions paragraph also repeats the idea of using alternative packaging. Use shorter units to develop each point, and make references such as “this issue” more precise.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “recycle system,” “plastic production,” “organic waste” and “health related issues,” so the subject is generally understandable. However, the range is limited and several phrases are imprecise or unnatural, such as “damage it makes to environment,” “take a part in making environment harm free” and “in every term.” Spelling errors—including “enivronment,” “ovecome,” “packeging” and “indiractly”—also make the writing less fluent and can distract the reader. Aim for accurate, natural collocations and check spelling carefully. More precise terms for environmental effects and practical actions would help express your ideas with greater clarity.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including clauses with “as,” “which” and “if,” and the overall meaning can usually be followed. However, some long sentences are not controlled successfully. For example, the sentence beginning “For example, number of people use large amount of plastic” contains problems with articles and plural forms, and its sequence of clauses makes the relationship between ideas unclear. In “which help in ways,” the verb does not agree with its subject, while the final sentence has awkward punctuation around “like.” Break complex ideas into shorter sentences, check subject–verb agreement and articles, and use punctuation to show where one point ends and the next begins.

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