Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-27

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 shows how the ethanol is produced in the chart below. It starts from plants and trees followed by their source of food which are the carbon dioxide and sunlight. Next will be the harvesting, after this method the plants will be pre-processed to release the cellulose and get the chemicals needed for the processing. While processing it will produce the sugars that feeds the microbes. Microbes then release the gas called ethanol.

Ethanol is used for gasoline and energy that we use in everyday life, when we use this gas it will release the carbon dioxide back to the atmosphere to become a food for the plants again then the cycle repeats. Without this resources our energy sector will go downhill resulting in crisis. While ethanol is essential, this can get really bad when used aggressively. It can damage our atmosphere that will cause global warming and worsen our day to day life.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the broad cycle, including plant growth, harvesting, processing, sugar production, microbes, ethanol, and carbon dioxide returning to plants. However, the account is only partly accurate and does not clearly report the diagram’s main features. For example, sunlight and carbon dioxide provide energy for plant growth, rather than being described as the plants’ “source of food”; and the diagram shows microbes being added before ethanol is produced, not microbes releasing a gas. It also shows ethanol being used by cars, trucks, and aeroplanes, which you omit, while “gasoline and energy” is not what the diagram specifies. The comments about energy-sector crisis and global warming are unsupported by the visual. Focus on accurately describing the stages and the circular relationship.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic sequence, moving from plant growth through processing and then back to carbon dioxide, and the paragraph break separates the production process from its use. Linking phrases such as “Next,” “after this,” and “then” help show order. However, the progression is not consistently clear: “after this method” has an unclear reference, and the transition from the production stages to claims about everyday energy and environmental harm shifts away from describing the diagram. Some links are also mechanical, with repeated “then” and “after.” Organise the account into a clear start-to-finish sequence, use precise references to each stage, and reserve the final paragraph for the transport uses and the carbon cycle shown.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant process vocabulary, including “harvesting,” “pre-processed,” “cellulose,” “processing,” “sugars,” and “microbes,” so the reader can recognise much of the subject matter. However, several choices are imprecise or unnatural for describing this diagram: “source of food” does not accurately express the role of sunlight and carbon dioxide, “release the cellulose” is not the clearest description of that stage, and “gasoline and energy” does not match the labelled transport uses. The informal phrases “get really bad,” “go downhill,” and “day to day life” are also unsuitable for a formal process report. Choose precise process verbs and neutral academic wording, and avoid adding claims that the visual does not support.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mixture of simple and more complex sentences, including the sequence “While processing it will produce the sugars that feeds the microbes.” The overall meaning is usually understandable, but grammatical control is uneven. In that example, “sugars” is plural, so the verb should be “feed”; the opening “It starts from plants and trees followed by…” also has an unclear construction. There are further agreement and reference problems in “Without this resources” and “this can get really bad,” where the demonstratives do not agree clearly with their nouns. Some sentences join several stages or ideas without precise structure. Use direct subject–verb patterns for each stage and check agreement, pronoun reference, and sentence boundaries.

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