Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-01

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)

This process chart illustrates the detail about making a sugar through sugar cane. At a glance, most time consuming step is growing canes.

Initially, sugar cane saplings plants in a field, which take around 12 to 18 months to grow it's desire size. After that harvesting is done by the farmers with proper machineries. Furthermore, crushing of these canes is done by the big-size juicer which converts canes into juice. The very next step is purifying this juice with limestone filter which send this juice into evaporator where juice becomes syrup via heat. Continue this process through centrifuge which seprates sugar crystals from syrup and the after all these last step is to drying and cooling of this product which results into sugar.

overall, sugar is a part of daily food essential item of every family. Sugar making process is very tricky but also it is reliable method nowadays in production companies.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the main stages of the sugar manufacturing process, identifying the general sequence from growing to drying and cooling, and attempts an overview by noting the time-consuming agricultural phase. However, the development remains limited and somewhat mechanical. The overview provided in the final paragraph includes personal or subjective commentary regarding sugar as a "daily food essential item" rather than focusing strictly on academic visual data trends or key features, which detracts from the formal summary requirement. To reach a higher level, the response needs to select and highlight more key features of the diagram without introducing irrelevant or non-academic generalisations.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is a basic logical flow and an attempt to sequence the stages using transitional markers such as "Initially", "After that", and "Furthermore". However, the overall progression is disrupted by mechanical transitions and poor paragraphing choices, particularly as the final conclusion and personal comment are separated into an abrupt, poorly connected paragraph. Referencing and cohesive devices are sometimes repetitive or inaccurate, such as starting consecutive sentences with similar connective phrases. To improve, the writer should ensure smoother logical transitions between steps and organise the response into a more cohesive, standard essay structure without abrupt standalone sentences.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for the task, featuring basic process terms like "harvesting", "crushing", "juice", and "syrup". However, there are noticeable lexical errors, word form issues, and awkward collocations throughout the text, such as "making a sugar through sugar cane", "saplings plants", "it's desire size", and "big-size juicer". Spelling and word choice inaccuracies are present but generally do not completely impede communication. To achieve a higher band, the writer needs to incorporate a wider, more precise range of less common lexical items with accurate collocation and word formation suited to a formal process description.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The text demonstrates a limited range of grammatical structures, relying heavily on simple sentences alongside a few attempts at complex forms that contain frequent errors. There are notable mistakes with verb forms, passive voice constructions, articles, and prepositions, such as "sugar cane saplings plants in a field", "grow it's desire size", and "last step is to drying and cooling". Punctuation and comma splices also weaken structural control. To move up, the writer must demonstrate better control over complex sentence patterns, ensure correct subject-verb agreement, and significantly reduce the frequency of grammatical errors.

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