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 diagram illustrates the process of producing sugar from sugar cane. With the help of using different kinds of machineries and methods.

overall, the process contains six main stages, starting with growing sugar cans and ending with cooling the sugar that has been produced. During the process the juice is been through different methods, purification, evaporation and seperation before sugar is being cooled.

Initially, sugar cans are growen for 11-18 months for harvesting with machienery or physically. It is then crushed through a crushing macheine for juice

Moreover, The juice is then shifted to purification procces through limestone filter and juice becomes syrup through evaporater. centrifuge seperates sugar crystals from syrup and transferred to a container where it is cooled down. These crystals are then available as sugar for daily life use.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the process and include several key stages, including growing, harvesting, crushing, purification, evaporation and separation. However, the overview says there are six stages, whereas the diagram shows seven, and the growing period is 12–18 months, not 11–18. The final stage is drying and cooling; saying the crystals are transferred to a container is not clearly supported by the diagram. The response therefore covers the process only partially, with some important details inaccurate or under-developed. It is also 18 words below the required minimum, which limits the opportunity to report the stages fully. To improve, check each label against the diagram and describe the sequence and final stage precisely.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable overall order: an introduction, an overview, and descriptions of the early and later stages. Sequencing words such as “Initially” and “Moreover” help signal movement through the process. However, progression is weakened by the opening fragment, “With the help of using different kinds of machineries and methods,” and by the abrupt ending of the crushing sentence at “for juice.” The final paragraph also combines several stages in a compressed way, making their relationships less clear. “Moreover” does not express a meaningful addition here, since the paragraph continues the same sequence. Use complete paragraphs and connect each stage with clear sequence markers such as “Next” and “After this.”

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant process vocabulary, including “limestone filter,” “evaporater,” “centrifuge,” “sugar crystals,” and “syrup,” so the reader can identify much of the production process. However, the range is limited and several word-choice, form, and spelling errors reduce precision: “machineries” is not the natural countable form, “physically” is vague for harvesting by hand, and “seperation” and “procces” are misspelled. “Available as sugar for daily life use” is also awkward and imprecise. Aim for accurate, conventional process terms and check spelling carefully. More precise choices such as “mechanically or by hand,” “separates,” and “the finished sugar” would make the account clearer and more natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple and more complex forms, including “starting with growing sugar cans and ending with cooling the sugar” and the sequence describing juice becoming syrup. However, sentence control is inconsistent, and several errors make the account difficult to follow. The opening “With the help of…” is a fragment, while “the juice is been through” has an incorrect verb construction. There are also errors in verb forms and agreement, as in “sugar cans are growen” and “sugar is being cooled,” and the crushing sentence is incomplete. Capitalisation and punctuation are inconsistent, including the lowercase “overall” after a full stop. Practise complete sentences and accurate passive forms, for example, “The cane is crushed to extract the juice.”

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