Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-29
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 process for producing sugar from sugar cane.
Overall, there are seven main stages of sugar production. Starting with the growing and ending with the drying and cooling a sugar.
Initially, sugar cane is grown for 12-18 months. Once the sugar cane is matured, it is harvested either manually or machine. After completing the harvesting, the sugar cane is crushed and extract the juice. The juice is purified by using the limestone filter to remove the extra particle.
Similarly, purifying juice is heated in an evaporator until the juice becomes syrup. The juice is passed to centrifuge to separate sugar crystals from syrup. Finally the syrup is dried and cooled and produced the final sugar.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0
The student successfully identifies the main stages of the sugar cane manufacturing process, covering all steps from growing and harvesting through crushing, filtering, evaporation, centrifugation, and finally drying and cooling. An overview is provided in the second sentence. However, the response is significantly under-length, containing only 118 words compared to the minimum requirement of 150 words. This under-length severely limits the extent to which the features of the process can be fully developed and extended, which impacts the overall task achievement score.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The text demonstrates a clear logical organization with a sequential progression through the stages of the diagram. The writer uses basic sequencing signals such as 'Initially' and 'Finally'. However, paragraphing is underdeveloped, with the body of the process compressed into a single block of text following the introduction. Cohesive devices are at times repetitive or somewhat mechanical ('Similarly, purifying juice is heated...'), which limits the flow and overall cohesion of the response.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary relevant to the diagram, incorporating process-specific terms such as 'harvested', 'crushed', 'limestone filter', 'evaporator', and 'centrifuge'. There are some word choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as 'is matured' instead of 'matures' and 'either manually or machine' instead of 'either manually or mechanically', as well as grammatical forms like 'produced the final sugar' instead of 'producing the final sugar'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The writer attempts a mix of simple and passive sentence structures, which are generally appropriate for a process diagram (e.g., 'sugar cane is grown', 'The juice is purified'). However, there are notable grammatical errors and awkward phrasings, such as 'the drawing and cooling a sugar', 'once the sugar cane is matured', and 'crushed and extract the juice'. While these errors do not completely obscure the meaning, they occur frequently enough to prevent the response from achieving a higher band.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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