: Diagram The diagram below shows how ethanol fuel is produced from corn.
Sample Response
The diagram illustrates the production of ethanol fuel from corn.
Overall, there are nine stages in the process of corn ethanol production, beginning with harvesting the corn and ending with delivery to a gas stationending at the delivery stage.
At the first stage of the corn-to-ethanol production processAt the first stage in the corn ethanol making process, corn is storedharvested and then kept there until it is readyput in a suitable place to ensure safe storage before it is ready for milling. During the milling stage, the corn is milledis ground into a fine powder, which is then mixed with water. The resulting mixture is cooked for four hours.
After cooking, the mixture undergoes a fermentation process, which takes two daysDelete, and ethanol is produced after this stage. After that, the liquid ethanol is separated from the fermented mixture, during which a solid by-product is removedsome solid by-products are taken out. It then takes five hours for the resulting ethanol to be purified to remove any impurities. Finally, this ethanol is stored againfor a set period of time before being transported to a gas stationtransported to retailers, ready to be sold.
Why this response received Band 7.5
The response presents the process in a fluent, coherent sequence and accurately includes the key timings, separation, and purification stages. Its main limitation is the addition of details the diagram does not explicitly show, including harvesting, a set storage period, and delivery to retailers rather than the final gas-station destination. The highest-priority improvement is to keep every stage and endpoint strictly tied to the visual labels.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The main sequence and key durations are accurately covered, but the overview and ending include several unsupported or imprecise details.
Begin with corn rather than harvesting and identify the final destination as the gas station without inventing a storage duration.
Coherence and Cohesion
The process is organised into a clear introduction, overview, and logically sequenced detail paragraphs with smooth progression.
Keep the strong chronological flow while reducing repeated stage-based transitions where the process order is already obvious.
Lexical Resource
The response uses a good range of process vocabulary accurately, though a few expressions are wordy or less exact than the diagram.
Choose concise visual-specific wording, such as stored and sent to a gas station, and avoid elaborating beyond the supplied information.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of complex and passive structures is used accurately, with only minor awkwardness that does not impede meaning.
Refine reference and clause attachment in long sentences so that actions such as separation and purification have unambiguous subjects.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
: Diagram The diagram below shows how ethanol fuel is produced from corn.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.