Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-03

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

Your English-speaking friend who lives in your town has asked for your advice about learning a new sport. Write an email to your friend. In your email:

• recommend a new sport that would be suitable for your friend to learn
• explain how your friend could learn this sport
• suggest that you both learn this sport together

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear ....................................,

 

Student answer (Band 5.0)

Hi John,

I hope you are doing well as I got to know that you want to learn a new sport and you have asked about my suggestion so according to me you should start playing football because it provides many health benefits as this game helps us to stay from many diseases. You should learn this game from Mr Advert . Mr Advert help the students to provide free coaching of football in our local park in Dorset park at 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm . We both get opportunity to play opportunity to play football together as we are neighbours and Dorset park is very close to my house so this is good chance that we can start practicing football. Mr Advert is the best coach and he will definitely help us to learn about this game.

Your sincerely

Perth

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response addresses all three bullet points: recommending a sport (football), explaining how to learn it (Mr. Advert's coaching), and suggesting learning together. However, the response is under the 150-word minimum, which negatively impacts the development of ideas. The explanation of how to learn the sport is somewhat repetitive, and the tone is slightly informal but lacks the natural flow expected in a friendly email. To improve, you should expand on the benefits of the sport or provide more specific details about the coaching sessions to ensure the word count requirement is met and the ideas are fully developed.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The letter is written as a single paragraph, which makes it difficult to follow. In IELTS writing, you should use clear paragraphing to separate different ideas. The use of cohesive devices is limited and somewhat mechanical; for example, the repetition of 'Mr Advert' and 'Dorset park' makes the text feel disjointed. There is a lack of transition words to connect the ideas logically. To improve, use paragraph breaks for each bullet point and incorporate a wider range of linking words such as 'furthermore', 'consequently', or 'in addition' to improve the flow of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is basic and repetitive. Phrases like 'get opportunity to play' and 'good chance' are used, but the range is limited. There are also some awkward collocations, such as 'stay from many diseases', which should be 'stay free from many diseases' or 'prevent many diseases'. The vocabulary is sufficient to convey the message, but it lacks the variety and precision required for a higher band score. Try to incorporate more descriptive adjectives and varied verbs to make your writing more engaging and precise.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response relies heavily on simple sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'I got to know that you want' (which is slightly unnatural), 'Mr Advert help the students' (subject-verb agreement error), and 'Your sincerely' (incorrect closing). Punctuation is also inconsistent, with missing commas and incorrect spacing before punctuation marks. While the meaning is generally clear, the frequent errors and lack of complex sentence structures limit the score. Focus on mastering subject-verb agreement and using a mix of complex sentences to improve your grammatical range.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.