Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-22

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 production process of the crystal sugar from sugar cane plants at the commercial scale.

Overall, the manufacturing process consists of seven main stages.The linear production process begining with plantation, harvesting, crushing, purifying, eveporating, centrifuging and ending with final product.

At the initial stage, sugar canes are grew 12 to 18 months of time period before harvest. The harvesting process being conducted by using machines or by farmers. After that all the well-growh sugar canes being put into the machine and crushed it well. The juice were collected to the basket.

At the fourth stage, cane juice were undergo the purifying process by using limestone filter. Filtered droplets being transfered to the evaporator. In the evaporator juice turnes to the syrup and this process takes much time to produce sugar syrup. Then after sugar syrup was undergo for seperation. Meanwhile, centrifuger used at this stage o seperate sugar crystals from syrup. Finally, cr

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student covers all major steps of the manufacturing process from growing to drying and cooling. An overview is successfully attempted in the second paragraph, outlining the seven main stages. Key features such as the 12-18 month growing period, the two harvesting methods (mechanical and manual), crushing, filtering with limestone, evaporation, and centrifugation are reported. However, the response stops abruptly in the final sentence ("Finally, cr..."), resulting in an incomplete conclusion. Because the essential stages of the process are presented and the main features are identified, the response meets the requirements for a Band 6.0, though the incomplete ending prevents a higher score.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into three paragraphs, starting with an introduction and overview, followed by the body stages. Cohesive devices are used to guide the reader through the sequence, such as "At the initial stage," "After that," "At the fourth stage," and "Meanwhile." However, some links feel mechanical, and referencing is occasionally unclear (e.g., "all the well-growh sugar canes being put into the machine and crushed it well"). Paragraphing is logical, but the abrupt cut-off at the end disrupts the overall flow and progression of the response. These features correspond to a Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student attempts a range of process-specific vocabulary, such as "manufacturing process," "plantation," "harvesting," "crushing," "purifying," "evaporating," and "centrifuging." However, there are numerous lexical and spelling errors throughout the text, including "crystal sugar" instead of "refined sugar" or "sugar crystals," "begining" instead of "beginning," "eveporating" instead of "evaporating," "well-growh" instead of "well-grown," and "o seperate" instead of "to separate." While the vocabulary is adequate to communicate the basic steps of the diagram, the frequency of spelling and word-form errors limits the score to a Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some attempt at passive voice constructions (e.g., "sugar canes are grew," "cane juice were undergo," "filtered droplets being transfered"). However, there are frequent grammatical and structural errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ("sugar canes are grew", "cane juice were undergo", "juice turnes"), tense inconsistencies, and missing auxiliary verbs. Punctuation is generally acceptable, but grammatical inaccuracy is noticeable and occasionally causes strain for the reader. These issues reflect a Band 5.5 level of grammatical control.

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