Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-15

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The chart below shows the results of a survey about people’s coffee and tea buying and drinking habits in five Australian cities.

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

Student answer (Band 4.5)

The flow chart illustrates the process of producing sugar from sugar cane.

Overall, the process consists of seven main stages, beginning with the cultivation of sugar cane and ending with the drying and cooling of the resulting sugar crystals. The entire process involves several stages, including harvesting, crushing, purification, evaporation and centrifugation.

The process begins with the cultivation of sugar cane, which takes approximately 12 to 18 months. Once the sugar cane has fully grown, it is harvested either manually or mechanically. The harvested cane is then crushed in a machine to extract the juice.

In the next stage, the extracted juice is purified by passing it through a limestone filter. Following this, the purified juice is heated in an evaporator, causing the water to evaporate and leaving behind a thick syrup. The syrup is subsequently placed in a centrifuge, where it is spun at high speed to separate the sugar crystals from the remaining liquid.

Finally, the sugar crystals are dried and cooled. Once this final stage has been completed, the finished sugar is ready for use.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 1.0

The student has written a complete response describing a process (sugar production), but they have completely misread the prompt. The task actually required summarising a bar chart regarding coffee and tea habits in five Australian cities, not a process diagram of sugar cane. Consequently, the response is entirely off-topic for the visual data provided. According to the IELTS descriptors, when a response is completely unrelated to the visual prompt, Task Achievement cannot be credited for addressing the specific data. However, looking at the writing produced as a standalone piece of task 1 writing, it successfully identifies stages and outlines a process. Due to the complete mismatch with the prompt, the score is heavily penalised for failing to address the actual task given.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

Despite being off-topic regarding the visual data, the text itself is very well structured and coherent as a process description. The student makes effective use of clear logical sequencing and cohesive devices such as 'Once the sugar cane has fully grown', 'In the next stage', 'Following this', and 'Finally'. Paragraphing is used logically and appropriately to separate the introduction, the preliminary stages, the processing steps, and the conclusion. Referencing is clear throughout. If evaluated purely on organisational skills, this text demonstrates strong coherence and cohesion, easily meeting the criteria for a much higher band, but the overall score must reflect the structural framework relative to the task.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary used in the response is well-suited to describing a manufacturing or agricultural process. The student successfully employs less common and topic-specific lexical items such as 'cultivation', 'harvested', 'crushed', 'purification', 'evaporator', 'centrifuge', and 'crystals'. Word choice and collocations are generally natural and accurate (e.g., 'extracted juice', 'spun at high speed'). There are no noticeable spelling errors. The lexical range is adequate and demonstrates flexibility in handling a technical procedure, showing good control over vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

The text demonstrates a good mix of simple and complex sentence structures. The student uses subordinate clauses and passive voice effectively, which is appropriate for process descriptions (e.g., 'the extracted juice is purified by passing it through a limestone filter', 'the purified juice is heated in an evaporator'). The grammatical accuracy is high, with the majority of sentences being error-free. Control over punctuation and verb tenses (primarily present simple for describing processes) is consistent and accurate. The grammatical range contributes positively to the readability of the response.

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

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