Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-17

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 figure below illustrates processes by which sugar is produced. The sugar becomes ready in various seven steps starting from growing sugar canes to drying and cooling of sugar. These crucial steps helps us to make sugar. The whole process takes approximately 20 months till completion of sugar.

Overall, sugar is produced by seven steps. These steps involves growing of sugar canes, harvesting, crushing, purifying juice, converting juice into syrup by means of heating, separating sugar crystals from syrup and finally cooling and drying sugar. The sugar is ready to use.

Initially, sugar canes were grown taking 12 to 18 months of intense hardworking. After that, when sugar canes were ready to eat, they were harvested from fields. They were collected and subsequently crushed into machine and juice is extracted there. The juice is purified by means of limestone filter. Now, the crucial steps such as converting juice into syrup syrup by means of heating, separating sugar crystals from syrup and finally cooling and drying sugar. The sugar is ready to use.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The student attempts to summarise the diagram illustrating the sugar production process, identifying the main stages from growing to drying and cooling. However, there are significant issues with the execution. The third paragraph trails off mid-sentence and repeats phrases awkwardly ('converting juice into syrup syrup by means of heating, separating sugar crystals from syrup and finally cooling and drying sugar. The sugar is ready to use'), indicating either an editing error or lack of completion. While an overview is attempted, key details of the intermediate steps are somewhat garbled or repetitive, preventing a fully developed response. The calculation of the total time (20 months) is reasonably drawn from the 12-18 month growing period plus subsequent steps, but overall task fulfillment is hindered by the abrupt and repetitive ending. This performance corresponds to a band 5.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay is divided into short paragraphs, attempting an introduction and an overview. However, cohesion breaks down significantly towards the end due to repetition and structural collapse. In the third paragraph, the text repeats the final steps verbatim ('converting juice into syrup... and finally cooling and drying sugar. The sugar is ready to use') directly after mentioning them. Furthermore, referencing is sometimes awkward, as seen with 'The sugar becomes ready in various seven steps'. While cohesive devices like 'Initially', 'After that', and 'subsequently' are used to sequence the opening of the process, the overall logical progression is severely disrupted by the repetition and incomplete sentence structures in the final body paragraph. This places the response in band 5.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates a basic vocabulary set relevant to the topic, using words like 'growing', 'harvesting', 'crushing', 'purifying', and 'centrifuge' (though the latter is missed, terms like 'juice', 'syrup', and 'sugar crystals' appear). There are attempts at less common vocabulary such as 'intense hardworking', but this collocation is unnatural. Other lexical errors include repetitive phrasing ('seven steps', 'sugar is ready to use') and minor word formation issues ('These crucial steps helps us'). The range is adequate for a basic summary, but limitations in precision and word choice, combined with repetition, keep the score at a band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are noticeable errors such as subject-verb agreement ('These crucial steps helps'), tense shifts ('sugar canes were grown... and juice is extracted'), and sentence fragments or broken structures in the final paragraph ('Now, the crucial steps such as...'). The sentence structure breaks down entirely in the conclusion of the third paragraph, where clauses are left dangling or duplicated. While some basic sentences are formed correctly, frequent errors and structural failures prevent the response from achieving a higher band. This warrants a band 5.0.

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