Writing Task 1: Process Diagram: Question 2
Syllabus W.task1
The diagram below shows how chocolate is produced from cocoa pods. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features. Write at least 150 words.
The process is linear, running through seven stages from the harvesting of cocoa pods to the moulding of finished chocolate bars, with no stage repeated.
Stage 1: Ripe cocoa pods are harvested by hand from cocoa trees with a machete, and each pod is split open to remove the beans and surrounding pulp. Stage 2: The beans, still coated in pulp, are placed into wooden boxes and left to ferment for five to seven days. Stage 3: The fermented beans are spread out on trays or mats and dried in the sun for around a week. Stage 4: The dried beans are transported to a processing factory, where they are cleaned and then roasted at a controlled temperature. Stage 5: The roasted beans are cracked open and winnowed, separating the outer shells from the inner nibs. Stage 6: The nibs are ground into a thick paste called chocolate liquor, which is then mixed with sugar, milk powder and additional cocoa butter. Stage 7: The mixture is conched, tempered through controlled heating and cooling, and finally poured into moulds, where it sets into solid chocolate bars.
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Worked solution
Examiner notes: why this is a band 9 response
Task Achievement
The overview names both the start and end points of the process and states that it is a single linear sequence of seven stages, before the body accurately reports every stage in the diagram, including the easily-missed winnowing stage, without adding any explanation of why chocolate is made or any personal opinion about it.
Coherence & Cohesion
A wide range of sequencing devices (“First”, “Next”, “Once fermentation is complete”, “After that”, “Following this”, “Finally”) carries the reader through the seven stages in order, and the closing sentence groups the stages into broader categories (harvesting, fermenting, drying, roasting, grinding, moulding) to summarise the whole process rather than simply repeating the last step.
Lexical Resource
Specific, topic-appropriate vocabulary is used throughout (“ferment”, “winnowed”, “chocolate liquor”, “conched”, “tempered”) rather than generic words like “processed” or “changed”, and collocations such as “cracked open” and “cocoa butter” show natural, idiomatic control of the topic.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
The passive voice dominates from Stage 2 onward (“are placed”, “is transported”, “are cracked open and winnowed”) because no individual agent performs these actions, while non-defining relative clauses (“which is combined with sugar, milk powder…”) and participle clauses (“Once fermentation is complete”) add grammatical range without any errors.
Common pitfalls specific to this task
See commonMistakes above: the most damaging is reversing the order of fermenting and drying, since an examiner checking Task Achievement will treat any stage described out of sequence as a factual inaccuracy that lowers the score.