Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-23

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 pictorial graph depicts the manufacturing process for making sugar from sugarcane.

Overall, sugarcanes need to go from total 7 process begin from planting sugarcane and ends with Drying and cooling. where growing the sugarcane takes the most time.

firstly, to get sugar we need to use sugarcane as a primary material therefore at first the process includes planting sugarcane which takes somewhere between 1 to 1.5 year to plant and grow sugarcane. afterwards, harvest the ready fruit by using harvesting machine or by men-power. after collection of all the sugarcanes they send to crusing machine where they squice the juice and remove the waste.

Furthermore, after concentrating all the juice it went under the process of purification using limestone filter. in the next step they give the heat to purified juice because of this the juice transforms into syrup. ahead the syrup went to centrifuge to separate sugar crystals from syrup. lastly, the wet sugar go through drying and cooling and as a result from all these processes finally eatable sugar is prepared.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The student successfully covers all the main stages of the sugar manufacturing process, starting from growing and harvesting through crushing, purifying, evaporating, and centrifuging, down to drying and cooling. A basic overview is attempted, noting that the process has seven stages and that growing takes the most time. However, the overview is somewhat simplistic, and the data reporting lacks precise formatting typical of a Band 7 response. While all key steps are mentioned, the explanation of certain mechanical actions (such as the limestone filter and the centrifuge) is underdeveloped. Minor descriptive details from the visual data, like the dual harvesting methods, are partially glossed over. Consequently, the response satisfies the core requirements of Task Achievement at a Band 6.0 level by presenting an overall picture with relevant stages, but falls short of higher bands due to limited extension and development.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response is structured into four paragraphs, demonstrating a coherent overall arrangement. The progression of the process is signalled using sequential transitional markers such as 'firstly', 'afterwards', 'Furthermore', and 'lastly'. However, cohesion is at times mechanical or faulty, as seen in awkward transitions like 'ahead the syrup went to centrifuge' and 'the wet sugar go through'. Paragraphing is attempted, though the division between paragraphs is slightly unbalanced, with the second body paragraph clustering multiple steps together. Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the dangling pronoun use in 'they give the heat'. Overall, the logical organisation allows the reader to follow the sequential stages, aligning well with the descriptors for Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully employing process-specific terms such as 'manufacturing process', 'sugarcanes', 'limestone filter', 'syrup', and 'sugar crystals'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors and awkward word choices throughout the text, such as 'pictorial graph' instead of 'diagram', 'men-power' instead of 'manual labour', 'squice' instead of 'squeeze', and 'eatable sugar' instead of 'edible sugar'. Attempts to use less common vocabulary are often marred by spelling and collocation errors. While the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the general meaning, these inaccuracies restrict the score to Band 5.5, reflecting a limited yet minimally adequate range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, though attempts at complex structures frequently contain grammatical errors. Examples of structural and grammatical inaccuracies include 'sugarcanes need to go from total 7 process begin from' and 'the wet sugar go through drying and cooling and as a result from all these processes finally eatable sugar is prepared', which lack proper subject-verb agreement and punctuation control. Capitalisation errors at the beginning of sentences ('firstly', 'furthermore') are also present. While communication is not severely impeded and the general meaning remains clear, the high frequency of basic grammatical errors places this response firmly in the Band 5.0 category.

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