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Process diagram: Brick manufacturing

Pick out the main features of this process diagram for your overview, write your report on a 20-minute timer, then compare it with a band-8 model answer.

WRITING TASK 1

Process diagram

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The diagram below shows how bricks are made in a factory.

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

Write at least 150 words.

Brick manufacturing
  1. 1Digging clayClay is extracted from a quarry
  2. 2CrushingLarge lumps are broken up
  3. 3MixingClay is mixed with water and sand
  4. 4ShapingThe mixture is pressed into moulds
  5. 5DryingBricks are dried in warm air for two days
  6. 6FiringThey are baked in a kiln at 1,000°C
  7. 7CoolingBricks cool slowly to avoid cracking
  8. 8DeliveryBricks are stacked and taken to building sites

GoPrep wrote this practice question in the style of the exam. It is not an official IELTS question.

What your overview should say

An overview names the main trends or differences in one or two sentences, without numbers. These are the features a strong answer picks out:

  1. 1Overall, brick manufacture is a linear process with eight stages, starting with digging clay and ending with delivery to building sites.
  2. 2The clay is dug, crushed and mixed with water and sand, then pressed into moulds.
  3. 3The shaped bricks are dried for two days, fired in a kiln at 1,000°C, cooled slowly and delivered.

Write it on the clock

Spend the first few minutes planning, then write.

20:00

0 words of 150 minimum

Your answer stays on this page only. Copy it before you leave.

Band-8 model answer

Write your own answer first, then compare: how it answers the exact question, what each paragraph does, and which phrases you could borrow.

Show model answer (172 words)

The diagram shows how bricks are made in a factory, in a process that consists of eight stages.

Overall, the process is linear. Clay is dug up, shaped into bricks and hardened by drying and firing, and the finished bricks are then delivered to building sites. The first three stages prepare the clay, the next four shape and harden the bricks, and the final stage delivers them.

First, clay is extracted from a quarry. Large lumps are then broken up by crushing, and the clay is mixed with water and sand. Next, the mixture is pressed into moulds so that it is shaped into bricks.

In the middle of the process, the bricks are dried in warm air for two days. They are then baked in a kiln at 1,000°C, so the bricks are strengthened gradually.

In the final two stages, the bricks are cooled slowly so that cracking is avoided. Slow cooling is therefore an important final step. Finally, they are stacked and taken to building sites, which completes the process.

Useful vocabulary

PhraseMeaning
claya soft earth used for making bricks
be pressed into mouldsbe shaped in forms
dry in warm airremove moisture
be fired in a kilnbe baked in an oven
crackbreak with thin lines
building sitesplaces where construction happens

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