Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-18

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 given diagram illustrates the different stages of production sugar from sugar cane.

Overall, the whole process is divided in to 7 subsequent stages. which take a start from Growing and end at Drying and cooling to form sugar.

Looking at the diagram more closely, There is 12 to 18 months duration of growing sugar cane. After that it is harvested by machine or hands which is two different ways of harvesting the crops. Furthermore it goes to other machine in which it got crush and form a juice. The main steps is start from here. The liquid or juice is pass through the limestone filter which purify it and send to the drum in which it become syrup with the help of heat. Moreover it separated crystal sugar from syrup by centrifuge and finally the sugar submitted to a drum for drying and cooling. This is the whole process of manufacturing of sugar from sugarcane in different stages.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student addresses all parts of the prompt by summarising the seven main stages of sugar production from sugar cane. There is an attempt at an overview in the second paragraph, mentioning the 7 subsequent stages from growing to drying and cooling. However, some stages are described in a rather simplistic and mechanical manner, such as 'The main steps is start from here', and the report lacks deeper synthesis or comparison between the two harvesting methods shown in the diagram. Despite these minor limitations, the overall progression of the process is adequately covered, aligning well with the descriptors for Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response has a clear overall arrangement, divided into an introduction, an overview, and a body paragraph detailing the process. Cohesive devices such as 'After that', 'Furthermore', 'Moreover', and 'finally' are used to signal chronological progression, though some are mechanical. Paragraphing is attempted, but the main body is bundled into one dense paragraph that should ideally be split to reflect distinct phases of the manufacturing process. Referencing is generally clear, but punctuation errors around sentence boundaries (e.g., '7 subsequent stages. which take a start') affect overall cohesion, supporting a Band 5.5 score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, successfully using process-related terms such as 'harvested', 'crush', 'juice', 'limestone filter', 'syrup', 'centrifuge', and 'crystals'. However, there are notable word-formation and collocation errors, such as 'production sugar' instead of 'the production of sugar', 'in to' instead of 'into', 'got crush' instead of 'crushed', and 'sugar submitted to a drum'. These errors occasionally cause mild strain for the reader, placing the lexical performance solidly at Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control over grammar and punctuation is inconsistent. There are several grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('The main steps is start'), fragment sentences ('which take a start from Growing'), missing articles ('is harvested by machine or hands'), and tense inconsistencies ('it got crush and form a juice'). While communication is not severely impeded, the high frequency of basic grammatical inaccuracies prevents the response from reaching Band 6.0, making Band 5.5 a fair assessment.

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

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