Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-06

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 making process of sugar from sugar cane . Overall , the process include 7 step starting from growing and ending on drying and cooling .

Now turning to details , the first step is growing the sugar cane and it can be grown from 12 to 18 months which is almost one and half year . Secondly , it is harvesting either by man or by any machine like tractor . Moreover, the sugar cane is now crushed to make its juice . The fourth stage is to purifying the juice by using limestone filter . Now the purify juice is heated which convert juice into syrup in the evaporator . The second last process is to separates sugar crystals from syrup which can be done by centrifuge process . The last step or process of making sugar is to drying the crystals and then cooling it . Now finally the sugar is made from sugar cane

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers all stages of the process, from growing to the final product. However, the overview is quite basic and lacks a clear summary of the main trends or the nature of the process (e.g., that it is a linear, multi-stage industrial process). While the key steps are identified, the description is somewhat mechanical, simply listing the steps rather than synthesizing the information effectively. To reach a higher band, you should group related stages together and provide a more sophisticated overview that highlights the transformation of the raw material into the final product.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response uses basic cohesive devices such as 'secondly', 'moreover', and 'now'. While these help the reader follow the sequence, the paragraphing is poor; the entire body of the report is contained within a single block of text. A more effective approach would be to divide the process into logical stages (e.g., preparation, processing, and refining) to improve the flow. The progression is logical, but the lack of paragraphing makes the text feel like a list rather than a cohesive report.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks variety and precision. You rely on simple verbs like 'making', 'grown', and 'heated'. There are also some awkward collocations, such as 'making process of sugar' instead of 'sugar production process' and 'purify juice' instead of 'purified juice'. To improve, you should incorporate more technical or precise terminology related to industrial processes, such as 'extraction', 'filtration', 'crystallization', and 'by-product'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('the process include 7 step'), incorrect article usage ('the purify juice'), and awkward phrasing ('the second last process is to separates'). While the meaning is generally clear, the range of sentence structures is limited, consisting mostly of simple sentences. You need to work on using more complex structures, such as passive voice constructions, which are essential for describing processes, and ensure consistent control over verb forms and pluralization.

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

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