Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-11-01

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 the the production process of ethanol named biofuel. It include various steps, while getting energy from sunlight and co2 and how ethanol is made and use by people in automobiles.

Firstly, the plants and trees absorb sunlight and carbon dioxide from atmosphere to grow. After that these plants and trees get harvested by different methods but the most common way is people often use tractors, then it has to be taken for a pre-processing stage where a pure form of cellulose is obtained from it. Futhermore, it went through another stage of processing to refine it in better way to obtain good quality sugars and small microbes are then added to these refine sugars to get a a biofuel called ethanol and this ethanol is then used by people in different form of transportations like cars, trucks, aeroplanes etc, in the result these automobiles relese co2 in atmosphere and that co2 along with sunlight is then again absorbed by plants and trees and the cycle continues like that in a loop.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You cover the main stages and convey the overall cyclical nature of the process: plants grow using sunlight and carbon dioxide, the material is processed into sugars, microbes are added, and ethanol is used in transport before carbon dioxide returns to the plants. This is a relevant account of the diagram. However, the overview is embedded in the opening and closing sentences rather than clearly stated as a summary of the cycle. Some details are also unclear or unsupported: the diagram shows harvesting with a tractor, but not “different methods,” and it does not say that cellulose is “pure” or that processing produces “good quality” sugars. Make the overview explicit and describe only what the diagram shows to make the account more precise.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The stages are presented in a generally logical order, and sequencing expressions such as “Firstly,” “After that,” and “Furthermore” help the reader follow the process. The response also connects the final carbon-dioxide stage back to plant growth, giving it an overall sense of progression. However, nearly the entire description is compressed into one long paragraph, with several stages joined in a single sentence. This makes the sequence harder to scan and causes some links to feel mechanical. Use separate paragraphs for the overview and the detailed stages, and divide the process into shorter sentences. Clearer links between the processing stages and the transport-and-recycling stages would improve the flow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant process vocabulary, including “harvested,” “pre-processing,” “cellulose,” “microbes,” and “ethanol,” which allows you to describe the diagram’s main stages. There is also some variety in how you refer to the inputs and outputs. However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or awkward, such as “refine it in better way,” “good quality sugars,” and “different form of transportations.” Spelling errors including “Futhermore” and “relese” are noticeable, and “co2” should be written consistently as “carbon dioxide” in formal reporting. Aim for precise, natural process language and check spelling and word forms before submitting.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts to use complex sentences to connect stages, including clauses beginning “where” and “while,” and the sequence is usually understandable. However, control is uneven, particularly in the long second sentence, which joins many actions and clauses without clear sentence boundaries. There are also errors in agreement and articles: “It include various steps” should be “It includes various steps,” while “a a biofuel” contains a repeated article. Tense and verb forms are inconsistent in “it went through” within a present-tense process description. Use the present simple consistently, and break the process into shorter sentences with accurate subject–verb agreement and punctuation.

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