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Question– The diagrams below show the stages and equipment used in the cement-making process, and
how cement is used to produce concrete for building purposes.

Answer

The diagrams illustrate the phases and apparatus to make cement and how cement is utilised in the
production of concrete for construction.

The production of cement involves a 5 stage, linear process that begins with the mixing of raw materials
and culminates in the packaging of new cement. Making concrete is a simpler process that involves
mixing four ingredients in a concrete mixer.

Limestone and clay are crushed and the resulting powder is then mixed before being passed through a
rotating heater. Once heated this mixture travels over a conveyor belt and is ground through a grinder.
Now that the cement has been produced, it is packaged and transported to a building site where it can
be used to make concrete.

Concrete is made up of half gravel, quarter sand, 10% water and 15% cement. All of these are added
together in a cylindrical drum and rotated until concrete is yielded.

(151 words)

Advice

The first paragraph simply paraphrases the question. This is done through using synonyms.

The second paragraph gives two overview sentences. An overview gives the examiner an overall picture
of what is happening. You will notice that I have mentioned:

How many stages there are;

How raw materials were used;

If it is linear or cyclical;

what happens in the beginning; and

what is the result?

I have split the overview into two sentences because there are two separate stages.

The third paragraph looks at cement production in much more detail than the overview. The examiner is
looking for your ability to highlight the main features and sequence them effectively.
The fourth paragraph details the process of concrete production. This is a much simpler process and
does not require so much sequencing. There are some percentages so it does allow us to show the
examiner that we can use the language of proportions instead of just repeating all of the numbers.

Cement Making Process

by Shiny Star
(Pakistan)

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The two diagrams given, show the whole process of cement making and concrete
production. Overall the cement making process involves several steps (crushing,
mixing heating and grinding) to make cement from limestone and clay. Whereas
concrete making process just involves the mixing of various elements (cement, sand,
gravel and water) in a proper portion to be mixed well to make concrete.

In cement production, limestone and clay are crushed together initially through a
machine called crusher. The powdered form of the elements are then mixed together
well through mixer and is heated in a rotating heater at a fixed temperature. The
heated powder is then finally grinded into a fine and smooth powder form. The
prepared cement is then packed in bags.

On the other hand, concrete making is a simple procedure of mixing 15% cement,
25% sand, 50% gravel (also called small stones) and 10% water. All the items are
mixed well together, for an appropriate time, in a concrete mixer.

ample Answer 1:
The given diagram shows the process of cement production and then how this
cement is used for concrete production. As is observed from the graph, cement
production involves some complex processes and concrete production is done
using the water, cement and sand in a concrete mixer.

The first diagram depicts that, to produce cement first the limestone and clay are
crushed and the produced powder from this is passed through a mixer. The
power is then passed via a rotating heater where heat is supplied constantly and
this process creates the raw cement materials which are passed on a grinder
machine to finally produce the cement. The cement is then packed and marketed
for sale.

The second diagram presents how the concrete is produced for housing and
building work. In the first stage, 15% cement, 10% water, 25% sand and 50%
small stones are mixed in a concrete mixer machine and the machine rotates fast
to have the ingredients mixed together to create the concrete.
 
Sample Answer 2:
The two diagrams illustrate the cement-making process. We can see from the
given illustration that cement is manufactured first, and then it's used in the
concrete production.

In the first diagram, we can see that limestone is the raw material with which clay
added. Firstly, the two materials are crushed to form the powder. Then this
powder passes through a mixer and a heater through which the powder is
exposed to flame. The powder now is in the form of a paste. This paste is
grinded to be cement to pass through the last process; packing in bags.

The second diagram shows that cement can be used to produce concrete. This process is simpler
than cement production; concrete is a mixture of 15% cement, 10 % water, 25% sand and 50 %
small stones which are named as "Gravel". The four elements are poured in a huge mixer which
rotates producing concrete. We can see that once the cement is produced by several steps and
equipment, it can be used in other less complicated processes, for instance, concrete production.
(Submitted by Abdullah Hassan)
 

Sample Answer 3:
These two diagrams reveal the flow diagrams of both cement and concrete
production processes with necessary equipment and materials that are used.
Mainly, both processes have similarities and differences. They are similar
because each of them has more than one input and a single output. On the other
hand, they differ in the number of production steps.

In the cement production diagram, firstly, limestone and clay are gathered and
passed through a crusher. Then, the powder obtained from crusher is moved to
the mixer to make a homogene mixture. Next, rotating heater welcomes the
material from the mixer. After heating step, resulting material flows on the
grinder. Finally, cement becomes ready to be packed in bags at the end of the
grinder.

In the concrete production diagram, the process contains only one step to have concrete material
that is mixing. Cement, water, sand and gravel which is a general name for small stones are all
mixed in a rotating concrete mixer in precise proportions such as 15%, 10%, 25% and 50%
respectively.
(Submitted by Hüsna Uçar)
 

Sample Answer 4:
The diagrams illustrate how cement is produced and also an example of cement
utilisation produced to make concrete to use in a form of construction.
To begin with, cement is produced by combining raw materials like limestone,
clay, which are processed in a tool called crusher. Those all items are mixed
together to create a perfect blend. The blend, furthermore, goes into to a rotating
heater. As it is in the rotating heater tube, heat is introduced from the end of the
tube before the blend is actually dropped onto grinder. Then, after all the
systemic process, the mixture turns into some cement which is then packed into
bags.
Meanwhile, to create concrete, the main components of construction systems are
gravel, cement, water, sand and a concrete mixer to blend all the materials.
Gravel or small stone is the major and biggest component needed and accounts
for 50% among all materials. There are, however, some other materials like the
sand which is mainly used and comes in the second place and is accounted
halved from gravel, followed by cement and water. The cement accounts for 15%
compared to among all materials used to construct a new real construction. All
the material is mixed together by a concrete mixer.

Overall, the steps of making cement are more complicated and require advanced
machinery while concrete production requires mixing required components in the
right proportion in a simpler machine. While heat is required to produce cement,
no heat penetration during the combination period of making concrete is
required.

(Submitted by Linda)