Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-14

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 illustrate the process in which the sugar is being made from sugar cane. Overall, there are seven stages, beginning with growing sugar cane and collecting sugar by the process of drying and cooling.

To begin with, sugar cane is grown for 12-18 months which is then harvest either by hands or tractor machine. After harvesting, the sugar canes are crushed using rotatory machine to convert the bamboos of sugar crane in to liquid form such as juice.followed by, purification process using limestone filter to purify the juice. Next this purified juice is heated by a high flame where the juice will get evaporates and become syrup.

This syrup goes under a process called Centrifuge, where syrup gets spun to seperate the sugar crystals. Furthermore, this sugar crystals are placed in a container where it first gets dry and then make it cool, eventually after drying and cooling the proper form of sugar is produced.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response successfully covers all the key stages of the sugar manufacturing process, starting from the cultivation of sugar cane and finishing with the drying and cooling of sugar crystals. The student provides a clear overview in the introduction, identifying the total number of stages and the general progression of the process. Main features such as crushing, purification, heating, evaporation, and centrifuging are accurately reported. However, some details are slightly imprecise or colloquial, such as describing the crushed sugar cane as bamboos of sugar crane. Overall, the task is adequately addressed in line with Band 6 descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The report displays a coherent overall arrangement with a logical chronological progression from the beginning to the end of the process. The student makes an attempt to use cohesive devices to guide the reader through the stages, using transitions like To begin with, After harvesting, and Furthermore. However, some cohesive links are either grammatically awkward or overly mechanical, such as followed by, purification process and Next this purified juice is heated. Paragraphing is used to break up the response into logical chunks, but the sequencing and referencing could be smoother to achieve a higher band score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting process-specific terms such as purification, limestone filter, evaporates, syrup, and Centrifuge. However, there are notable lexical inaccuracies and awkward word choices, such as using bamboos instead of stalks or stems, and crane instead of cane. Additionally, spelling errors like seperate instead of separate and grammatical word-formation issues like rotatory machine instead of rotary machine limit the lexical score. While communication is not impeded, these frequent minor vocabulary slips prevent the response from reaching Band 7.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and passive voice constructions, as seen in the sugar cane is grown for 12-18 months which is then harvest. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with verb forms and subject-verb agreement, such as The diagram illustrate instead of illustrates, is being made, is then harvest instead of harvested, and this sugar crystals instead of these sugar crystals. Punctuation errors are also present, such as missing commas and a lowercase letter after a full stop. These errors require some effort from the reader to parse, placing the grammar firmly in the Band 5 category.

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