Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-03

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 5.0)

About the process, process shown here is of a suger plant. The plant have three mature steps, growing & harvesting, crushing & purifying and drying & cooling.

Suger making starts with planting suger cane on land, which takes 12 to 18 months aproxcimatly. ones fully growen it is harvested by farming equipment or by labour for further stages.

ones the suger cane is harvested it is sent to crusher to extract suger cane juice, which is than pored into a purifier. The purifier has a limestone filter placed at bottem of fanal, which slowly drips juice in to a evaporater. evaporater is placed on a heating stow which converts juice into a thik syrup for separating suger crystals from syrup then laced in to countener for drying and cooking suger.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 150 words, which significantly impacts the ability to fully develop the task. While the main stages of the sugar production process are identified, the description is underdeveloped. The summary lacks a clear overview of the process as a whole, and the explanation of the final stages is somewhat rushed and lacks detail. To improve, you must ensure you provide a comprehensive summary that covers all steps shown in the diagram and meets the length requirement to allow for a full explanation of the process.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is organized into short paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the sequence of events. However, the use of cohesive devices is quite limited and repetitive, with 'ones' (once) used incorrectly as a transition multiple times. The progression of ideas is logical, but the lack of sophisticated linking words makes the flow feel mechanical. To improve, try using a wider variety of transition signals such as 'subsequently', 'following this', or 'once the process is complete' to better connect the stages of the manufacturing cycle.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for describing a process, but there are frequent spelling errors such as 'suger' (sugar), 'aproxcimatly' (approximately), 'growen' (grown), 'bottem' (bottom), 'fanal' (funnel), 'stow' (stove), 'thik' (thick), and 'countener' (container). These errors are distracting and occasionally impede the reader's understanding. The range of vocabulary is limited to basic terms. To achieve a higher band, you should focus on accurate spelling and incorporating more precise technical vocabulary related to industrial processes, such as 'extraction', 'filtration', and 'crystallization'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response contains a mix of simple and some attempted complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues (e.g., 'The plant have three mature steps') and incorrect word forms (e.g., 'drying and cooking suger' instead of 'cooling'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with comma usage. While the meaning is generally clear, the high frequency of errors in basic grammar and spelling limits the score. Focusing on proofreading for subject-verb agreement and basic sentence construction will help improve your accuracy.

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