Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-19

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 6.5)

The diagram illustrates the production of sugar from scratch using sugar cane. The process is detailed in several steps from cultivation of sugar cane crops to industrial production of sugar.

It takes approximately twelve to eighteen months to grow sugar cane which are then harvested in two ways which include the tradtional method of cutting crops by hand and a modern tractor to collect large amount of sugarcanes. After collection, follows extraction of cane juice where the suagrcanes are crushed inside a machine.

The juice obtained is purified in a limestone filter which is then placed inside an evaporator where the filtered juice is slowly heated to turn into a dense syrup. The syrup is centrrifuged inside another machine to seperate the syrup from sugar crystals formed alongside. Finally, the crystals are dried and cooled inside a container which are ready for further refining and packaging process.

Overall, the picture details the manufacturing process of sugar, various methods of harvesting, extraction and collection of sugar from syrup to crystallized form.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You cover the main sequence from growing and harvesting through juice extraction, purification, evaporation, centrifuging, and drying. The overview also identifies the process as a whole, and the stated growing period and two harvesting methods match the diagram. This meets the task well, with some features described more fully than others: the final drying and cooling stage is mentioned, but the account does not clearly explain that the centrifuge separates sugar crystals from the remaining syrup. The ending also adds “further refining and packaging,” which is not shown, so avoid extending the process beyond the visual. To strengthen the response further, make the overview more informative by summarising the transformation from cane to crystals and the key separation stages.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The response is organised into clear paragraphs, and its progression broadly follows the process from cultivation to the final product. Sequencing expressions such as “After collection,” “Finally,” and “Overall” help readers follow the account. The middle stages are also linked in a sensible order, from crushing to purification and evaporation. However, the overview comes at the end rather than near the beginning, and the final paragraph partly repeats the introduction without adding a distinct summary of the process’s main features. Some links are also slightly awkward, as in “After collection, follows extraction.” Place a concise overview after the introduction, then use the body paragraphs to describe the stages in sequence; this would make the progression clearer and cohesion more flexible.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use a relevant range of process vocabulary, including “cultivation,” “extraction,” “limestone filter,” “evaporator,” and “crystals,” which helps convey the stages. There are also useful attempts at more specific wording, such as “dense syrup.” However, several spelling errors—“tradtional,” “suagrcanes,” and “centrrifuged”—and the misspelling “seperate” reduce accuracy. Some choices are imprecise or unnatural: “from scratch” is informal here, “collect large amount” is not the best description of harvesting, and “collection of sugar from syrup” is unclear. Prefer precise process terms and check spelling carefully; for example, describe the centrifuge as separating crystals from the remaining syrup rather than suggesting the syrup itself is separated from crystals formed alongside it.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex structures, including a relative clause in “which are then harvested” and a sequence of linked clauses describing purification and evaporation. Most of the process remains understandable, but some grammatical errors persist. In “sugar cane which are then harvested,” the singular noun phrase needs a singular verb, or the sentence should refer to plural canes. “After collection, follows extraction” has an incomplete or awkward clause structure; write, for example, “After harvesting, the cane is crushed to extract the juice.” In the final sentence, “crystals … which are ready” has unclear agreement and reference, and “process” would need a determiner in “packaging process.” Aim for consistently controlled agreement and complete sentence structures while retaining your complex sentences.

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