Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

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

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 6.5)

The diagram illustrates the process of ethanol production, which is a biofuel.

Overall, the process consists of nine stages, beginning with energy for plants and trees to grow, and ending with ethanol being used in transportation vehicles and emission of carbon dioxide.

First of all, plants and trees take sunlight and carbon dioxide as energy to grow, then are harvested through tractor. After that, the harvested plants and trees undergo pre-processing and produce a substance called cellulose. In the next step, that cellulose goes from processing and sugars are extracted from it.

After that, microbes are added into the sugars which were extracted from the processing of cellulose, Ethanol is produced thereafter. Afterwards, the ethanol is ready to serve as a fuel in vehicles, such as cars, trucks, and planes. Subsequently, these vehicles produce carbon dioxide considerabelly in the atmosphere. Meanwhile that carbon dioxide is again used by plants and trees with sunlight for energy. Therefore, the production of ethanol is a cyclic process.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You identify the process as ethanol production and give a clear overview of its cyclical nature, including the return of carbon dioxide to support plant growth. The main stages are also covered in sequence, from harvesting and pre-processing through cellulose, sugars, microbes and ethanol, and you correctly mention the three transport types. This meets the task well, though some details are less fully or precisely reported: for example, the diagram shows sunlight and carbon dioxide as inputs to plant growth, rather than describing both simply as “energy,” and it shows carbon dioxide released by the vehicles and returned around the cycle. Clarifying that the fuel is used by cars, trucks and aeroplanes, with their emissions completing the cycle, would make the account more exact and fully developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, an overview, and two paragraphs that follow the production sequence. Sequencing expressions such as “First of all,” “After that,” and “Afterwards” help the reader track the stages, and the final sentence reinforces the cycle. However, the linking is somewhat mechanical because several sentences begin with similar time markers. Some connections are also unclear: “Meanwhile that carbon dioxide” does not smoothly show how emissions return to plant growth, and “goes from processing” makes the relationship between cellulose and processing difficult to follow. Use a wider range of links to show cause and sequence, and make references such as “it” or “that carbon dioxide” unmistakably clear.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of process vocabulary, including “pre-processing,” “cellulose,” “microbes,” “extracted,” and “cyclic process,” which allows you to describe the main stages. Some choices are imprecise or unnatural, however. “Harvested through tractor” is not a natural way to describe the diagram, while “ready to serve as a fuel” and “produce carbon dioxide considerabelly” are awkward or inaccurate expressions. The spelling error in “considerabelly” also affects control. Aim for precise process collocations, such as “harvested using a tractor,” “used as fuel,” and “release carbon dioxide.” This would improve naturalness and precision while retaining the useful technical vocabulary already present.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use both simple and more complex sentence forms, including the overview sentence with “beginning” and “ending,” and clauses linked with “which” and “after.” The sequence remains understandable, but some grammatical errors persist. For example, “plants and trees take sunlight and carbon dioxide as energy to grow” has an unclear grammatical relationship between the inputs and growth; “cellulose goes from processing” uses an unsuitable construction; and “microbes are added into the sugars” has an incorrect preposition pattern. The capital letter in “Ethanol” after a comma is also a punctuation error. Practise accurate passive constructions for process descriptions, such as “the plants are harvested,” and check clause boundaries and prepositions when revising.

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