Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-11-13

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The diagram below shows the manufacturing process for making sugar from sugar cane.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

How sugar is produced from sugar cane

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The flow chart illustrates how sugar is manufacturing from sugar cane.

Overall, there are seven main stages, it is a man made and machine process, beginning with the growing sugar canes and ending with the drying and cooling. The main stages include harvesting, crushing, purifying juice, evaporator and centrifuge.

First, sugar cane has been growing for 12-18 months, then man is harvesting these ripe sugar cane before being transferred to a machine. At this stage, sugar canes are crushed in the machine and produce juice. After that, these purifying juice is passed from the limestone filter. Furthermore, these juice is stored in the cane and is heated and vapours evaporate the cane or juice becomes syrup.

Next, these syrup is moved to centrifuge where it separates sugar crystals from syrup. Finally, these process are ended with the drying and cooling these syrup and manufacturing sugar, by using the sugar canes.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the process as having seven stages and give a relevant overview from growing sugar cane to drying and cooling. Several key steps are also included, such as crushing, filtering, evaporation and centrifuging. However, some details are unclear or inaccurate: the diagram shows juice passing through a limestone filter, then being heated in an evaporator to become syrup, whereas “stored in the cane” and “vapours evaporate the cane” misrepresent this sequence. The final stage dries and cools the sugar crystals, not the syrup, and the response does not explain the two harvesting methods shown. To strengthen coverage, report these details precisely and make the transformation from cane to juice, syrup and sugar clear.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall sequence, supported by an opening overview and chronological markers such as “First,” “After that,” “Next” and “Finally.” This makes the process generally easy to follow. However, some links between stages are awkward or unclear, particularly “After that, these purifying juice is passed from the limestone filter” and the description of heating and evaporation. The overview also lists stages without explaining their relationship, while the final sentence combines drying, cooling and manufacturing in a confusing way. Use paragraphing to separate the overview from the detailed sequence, and make each sentence describe one stage before linking it to the next. Check that pronouns such as “these” clearly refer to the juice, syrup or crystals.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant process vocabulary, including “crushed,” “limestone filter,” “evaporator,” “centrifuge” and “sugar crystals,” which helps convey the subject. However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, sometimes making the process difficult to understand. For example, “sugar is manufacturing” should describe sugar being produced, and “stored in the cane” does not fit the diagram’s evaporator stage. “Man made and machine process” is also an imprecise way to describe the use of manual and mechanical harvesting. Aim for accurate process verbs and nouns, such as “is filtered,” “is heated,” “forms syrup” and “is separated.” Avoid repeating “sugar cane” where a clear reference to the material at its current stage would be more precise.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a sequence with “before” and a relative clause beginning “where,” but control is limited and errors occur frequently. Verb forms are a particular issue: “sugar is manufacturing” and “sugar cane has been growing” do not express the process accurately; passive forms such as “is manufactured” and “is grown” are needed. Agreement and reference also cause problems in “these purifying juice” and “these syrup,” while “these process are ended” has errors in both determiner and agreement. Some sentences are also joined in ways that obscure their structure. Practise consistent present-simple passive forms for process descriptions, and check singular/plural agreement and sentence boundaries when editing.

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