Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-02

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 5.5)

The diagram illustrates a process through which a biofuel called ethanol is produced.

Overall, ethanol production goes through a multiple steps process. It is an on going process that starts with the plants and trees and ends on the ethanol that is consumed through different sources mainly the transport.

Biofuel production like ethanol starts with the nature. Plants and trees are harvested that are pre-processed into cellulose. The cellulose is converted into sugars through chemical processing.

Sugars are made into ethanol that is used mainly by our transport industry including cars, trucks and airplanes. The carbo dioxide emitted from these sources are beneficial for the plants and trees which uses sunlight and the carbon dioxide to grow. This process is a never ending process.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response attempts to describe the main features of the biofuel production diagram, successfully identifying key stages such as harvesting, processing, and the role of microbes and transport. However, it falls short of the 150-word minimum, containing only 124 words. Furthermore, the description remains quite general and misses several intermediate details from the prompt, such as cellulose and sugars being explicitly connected in a sequence. While an overall trend or cycle is noted, the under-development of specific steps and the failure to meet the length requirement keep this part of the assessment at a lower level.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The text maintains a coherent overall arrangement and follows a logical order matching the cyclical nature of the diagram. Paragraphing is used to separate the introduction, the body stages, and the conclusion. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or repetitive, such as the repeated use of 'process' and transition words. Referencing within the text is generally clear, but the links between sentences could be smoother to establish a more sophisticated progression of ideas throughout the response.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully incorporating topic-related terms like 'biofuel', 'ethanol', 'harvested', and 'cellulose'. There are, however, noticeable lexical inaccuracies and awkward phrasings, such as 'a multiple steps process' instead of 'a multi-step process', 'on going', and 'carbo dioxide'. Word choice is generally simple and repetitive, and spelling errors like 'carbo dioxide' prevent the writing from achieving a higher score in lexical resource.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting relative clauses and passive structures. However, grammatical control is inconsistent, with frequent errors that occasionally cause difficulty, such as subject-verb agreement issues in 'the carbon dioxide to grow' and awkward phrasing like 'ends on the ethanol'. Article usage is also sometimes inaccurate, as seen in 'starts with the nature'. These persistent errors reflect a limited control over complex grammatical patterns.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.