Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-28
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 picture provides the information about the manufacturing process for making sugar from sugarcane.
Overall, there are seven steps in the process that start with growing sugarcane and ends with making sugar.
To begin with, sugar canes are grown for 12 to 18 months of period of time. Then, it is ready for harvesting. Harvesting is done through cutting sugar cane by machine. After that, by the help of machine sugar canes are crushed to make juice. With the help of limestone filter juice is purified. Also, juice is heated in stove to evaporates and that juice becomes syrup.
In the next step, syrup is gone for centrifuging. After centrifuging, we should separate sugar crystals from syrup. At last, sugar crystals are gone for drying and cooling up. So, this is the process of how sugar is made.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0
The response covers all main stages of the sugar manufacturing process, starting from growing and harvesting through to drying and cooling. However, there are minor omissions and inaccuracies in describing the methods (e.g., mentioning that harvesting is done only by machine, whereas the diagram shows both manual and mechanical harvesting). Furthermore, the response falls short of the 150-word minimum, containing only 139 words, which leads to a downward adjustment in this category.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The text presents a clear overall progression following the linear steps of the diagram. Cohesive devices such as 'To begin with', 'Then', 'After that', and 'In the next step' are used to guide the reader through the process. However, paragraphing is underdeveloped, with the body of the process crammed into a single block alongside the introduction, which limits the score for structural cohesion.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task, incorporating process-specific terms such as 'manufacturing process', 'harvesting', 'crushed', 'purified', 'syrup', and 'sugar crystals'. There are some awkward phrasings, such as 'by the help of machine' and 'gone for centrifuging', which detract from naturalness. A wider variety of precise verbs and lexical chunks would be needed for a higher band.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The text contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors and non-standard forms, such as 'provides the information about', 'for 12 to 18 months of period of time', 'in stove to evaporates', and 'are gone for drying'. Despite these errors, meaning is generally clear, and basic structures are handled with reasonable control.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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