Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-15
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 4.0)
The process diagram gives the 7 steps to make sugar from sugar cane.
Overall, Producing and drying / cooling of sugar is an seven-stage process. which start from growing the sugar-cane and end with refined sugar. agricultural of sugar cane takes upto 12-18 months the final extraction, centrifugation, and drying phases.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 3.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 4.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 4.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 4.5 |
| Overall | 4.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.0
The response identifies the process as having seven steps and gives a broadly relevant overview, including the growing period of 12–18 months and the final drying and cooling stage. However, it does not summarise the main stages in enough detail: harvesting, crushing, juice purification, evaporation into syrup, and separation in the centrifuge are not explained. The ending also refers to “refined sugar,” which is not stated in the diagram. The response is substantially under the required 150 words, leaving the task only minimally addressed. To improve, describe the stages in sequence and include the key transformation from cane to juice, syrup, sugar crystals, and finally dried sugar.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5
There is a basic attempt to organise the response: an opening sentence identifies the diagram, followed by a separate overview beginning with “Overall.” This gives the reader a simple starting structure. However, the second paragraph is not a complete, clearly connected summary: it contains a fragment after “process,” and the final phrases about extraction, centrifugation, and drying are not developed or linked to the earlier stages. Capitalisation and punctuation also interrupt the flow. A clearer progression would use one paragraph for the overview and another to describe the stages in order, with links such as “After harvesting,” “The resulting juice is then,” and “Finally.”
Lexical Resource: Band 4.5
The response uses some relevant process vocabulary, including “growing,” “centrifugation,” and “drying / cooling,” and “sugar cane” keeps the topic clear. However, the range is very limited for describing a multi-stage process, and several choices are inaccurate or awkward. “Agricultural of sugar cane” does not express the intended idea; “cultivation of sugar cane” would be more suitable. “Final extraction” is unclear because the diagram shows juice being crushed from the cane and sugar crystals being separated later. Use precise terms from the process, such as “crush,” “purify,” “evaporate,” and “separate,” and distinguish the juice, syrup, crystals, and finished sugar.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5
The response attempts both a simple opening sentence and a longer overview, but grammatical control is uneven. In “Overall, Producing and drying / cooling of sugar is an seven-stage process. which start…,” the sentence is incorrectly split before “which,” the article should be “a,” and the relative clause needs “starts.” The phrase “the final extraction, centrifugation, and drying phases” is also left without a complete sentence structure. Capitalisation after “Overall” and punctuation around the fragments further affect accuracy. Practise writing complete sentences with a clear subject and verb, for example: “The process starts with growing sugar cane and ends with drying and cooling the sugar.”
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