Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-14

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

 

The diagram below shows how a biofuel called ethanol is produced.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Student answer (Band 5.0)

The diagram illustrate the life cycle of ethonal, and lists all components that plays a crucial role in the production of biofuel ethanol.

The production of ethanol (also known as petrol) is an organic method. The inital source from which the production process starts are harvesting of plants, trees and forests. These trees gets their energy in the form of sunlight mixed with carbon dioxide. By pre-pocessing the harvested trees, a cellulose is produced by breaking down the trees and it is further processed untill it converts into sugar.

Afterwards, the sugar is treated with microbes which converts the by product into ethanol. In its raw form, Ethanol or we can say petroluem becomes the biofuel for number of transportation like vehicles, plane, truck and more. having that said, it's crucial to note that ehthanol has enourmous applications in the marchinery like generator etc.

Interesting feature about the ethanol is that its recyclable nature. When it burns in the vechiles, it is released into the air which turns back into carbon dioxide and when it reacts with sunlight, it becomes energy source for forests and plants.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The student attempts to summarise the diagram showing the production of ethanol, covering the main stages from harvesting plants and trees to preprocessing, producing cellulose and sugar, treating with microbes, and finally the recycling loop back to carbon dioxide. However, there are significant inaccuracies in task interpretation and reporting. For instance, the student states that ethanol is 'also known as petrol' and 'petroleum becomes the biofuel', which misinterprets the source material. Furthermore, the description misses some precise details of the cyclical process depicted in the graphic. Ideas are presented, but the overall task coverage is limited by these factual mischaracterizations and a lack of precise detail regarding the interconnected stages. Consequently, this performance aligns most closely with a Band 5.0, where the response addresses the task only partially and contains notable inaccuracies.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The text is divided into four paragraphs, which provides a basic structural framework for the response. However, the logical progression is frequently disrupted by awkward transitions and confusing referencing. While transitional markers like 'Afterwards' are used to sequence events, terms such as 'having that said' are applied incorrectly and informally. Referencing is occasionally unclear, as seen in phrases like 'the by product' without a completely clear antecedent, and pronoun use causes ambiguity ('These trees gets their energy'). Paragraphing is attempted, but the grouping of ideas is somewhat disjointed, particularly in the third paragraph where transportation applications and machinery uses are awkwardly combined. Overall, this demonstrates features typical of Band 5.0, where organisation is present, but progression lacks clarity and cohesive devices are sometimes misused or mechanical.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates a limited, though minimally adequate, vocabulary range for this task. There are several noticeable spelling errors ('ethonal' for ethanol, 'inital', 'pre-pocessing', 'untill', 'ehthanol', 'enourmous', 'marchinery', 'vechiles'), alongside word choice errors, such as confusing ethanol with petroleum or petrol. Attempts to use less common vocabulary like 'crucial role', 'organic method', and 'recyclable nature' show some ambition, but persistent inaccuracies in spelling and lexical collocation restrict the score. The errors do not completely obscure meaning, but they do cause noticeable difficulty for the reader and prevent the text from reaching a Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but control over grammar is weak. There are frequent subject-verb agreement errors, such as 'The diagram illustrate', 'These trees gets', and 'what plays a crucial role'. Punctuation and article usage are also problematic throughout the response. Complex clauses are often awkwardly constructed or contain faulty grammar, for example, 'The inital source from which the production process starts are harvesting of plants'. While the meaning can generally be parsed despite these issues, the high density of grammatical errors places the writing firmly at Band 5.0, where frequent errors cause difficulty and attempts at complex sentences are frequently faulty.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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