Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-16
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)
The diagram illustrates the step-by-step process of making Sugarcane from sugar.
Overall, the process contain 7 steps for making manufacturing sugarcane. In the first step sugarcane are grown fully and ends with drying and cooling.
In the initial step, Sugarcane are planted and they take 12-18 months to mature. After 12-18 months they are harvested by the farmers or the tractors. When they are harvested the go for the third process, which is crushing and they are turned into juice. In the fourth step, juice are purified by the lime stone filter.
In the fifth stage, those filtered juice are put into a small jar for heating, which is evaporator and it is used for turning juice into syrup. Subsequently centrifuge are used for separating sugar crystals from syrup. In the final stage they are put into a small bucket for drying and cooling. This process keeps repeating to make sugar from sugarcane.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 4.5 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The student attempts to summarise the diagram illustrating the sugar manufacturing process, identifying the main stages from growing and harvesting through to drying and cooling. However, there are significant flaws in the interpretation of the process. Notably, the first sentence states "making Sugarcane from sugar", which reverses the actual input and output. Furthermore, some descriptions are inaccurate or overly simplistic, such as referring to the evaporator and cooling stages as "a small jar" and "a small bucket", which misinterprets the technical diagram. While all seven stages are mentioned, the task is addressed only partially due to these conceptual misunderstandings and inaccuracies in reporting the visual data.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The response has an overall structure with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a concluding remark, showing an attempt at logical organisation. However, the progression is sometimes clumsy, and cohesive devices are repetitive or awkward, such as "In the initial step", "When they are harvested the go for the third process", and "In the fourth step". Paragraphing is attempted, but the grouping of sentences does not always reflect a logical division of the process stages effectively. Referencing is also occasionally unclear, such as the pronoun use in "those filtered juice are put".
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive, frequently reusing words like "process", "step", "sugar", and "sugarcane" without sufficient variation. There are also notable lexical errors and unnatural collocations, such as "making Sugarcane from sugar" (reversing the terms), "lime stone filter" (written as two words), and referring to industrial equipment as "a small jar" or "a small bucket". The range is limited and minimally adequate for the task, with noticeable word choice errors that occasionally cause confusion for the reader.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.5
The response displays a very limited range of grammatical structures, relying mostly on simple sentences with frequent grammatical and punctuation errors. Subject-verb agreement errors are common throughout the text, for example: "the process contain", "sugarcane are grown", "juice are purified", and "those filtered juice are put". Additionally, there are missing articles and preposition errors, such as "the go for the third process" instead of "they go to the third process". These frequent errors cause difficulty for the reader and demonstrate weak control over basic grammatical forms.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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