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Process diagram: Aluminium can recycling

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 used aluminium cans are recycled.

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

Write at least 150 words.

Aluminium can recycling
  1. 1CollectionCans are gathered from bins and banks
  2. 2SortingMagnets separate steel from aluminium
  3. 3ShreddingCans are cut into small pieces
  4. 4Removing paintCoatings are burned off in a furnace
  5. 5MeltingThe metal is melted into liquid aluminium
  6. 6CastingLiquid metal is cast into large ingots
  7. 7RollingIngots are rolled into thin sheets
  8. 8Making new cansSheets are formed and filled with drinks

The cycle then repeats from stage 1.

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, aluminium can recycling is a cyclical process with eight stages, in which used cans are turned back into new cans.
  2. 2The cans are collected, sorted by magnets, shredded and stripped of their paint in a furnace.
  3. 3The metal is then melted, cast into ingots, rolled into thin sheets and formed into new cans, which are filled and sold.

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 (178 words)

The diagram shows how used aluminium cans are recycled, in a cycle with eight stages.

Overall, the process is continuous. Used cans are collected and melted down, and the metal is then made into sheets, which are used to produce new cans that are filled with drinks and eventually collected again. The first three stages prepare the cans, the next three transform the metal, and the last two produce new cans.

First, the cans are gathered from bins and banks. Magnets are then used to separate the steel cans from the aluminium ones, and the aluminium cans are cut into small pieces during shredding. After that, the coatings are burned off in a furnace in the stage of removing paint.

The metal is then melted into liquid aluminium, and it is cast into large ingots.

In the final stages, the ingots are rolled into thin sheets, which are formed into new cans. These cans are filled with drinks, and they are sold. When the cans have been used, they are collected once more, so the process starts again.

Useful vocabulary

PhraseMeaning
collect cansgather used cans
magnetic separationusing magnets to sort metals
shredcut into small pieces
coatingsurface layer such as paint
ingota block of cast metal
be rolled into sheetsbe pressed flat

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