Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-11-06

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You are a member of an International Students' club. The club is organising an event to celebrate popular food from around the world.

Write a letter to the event organiser, Luis. In your letter

• offer to make a popular dish from your country
• describe what this dish is
• explain why it should be included in the event

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Luis,

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear Luis,

I hope you are doing well. I am writing regarading an event that celebrating popular food from around the world. I am pleased to join this event as a member of an International Students' club.

I would like to request you that I want to present a famous dish, called 'Hilsha Fish Curry' from my own culture. This is the best dish in our country because of its richness gravy with our country's culture.

This is a national dish in my country, as Hilsha is the national fish. It comes with a rich gravy with a mustard oil. Most of the people enjoy eating with rice, but some people also prefer to get it fry.

As it is a national fish in my country, I believe it will represent my country's culture.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address the three requested points: you offer to prepare Hilsha Fish Curry, describe its mustard-oil gravy and how it is served, and explain its cultural importance as a national fish. These details are relevant, but the explanation of why the dish would suit the event is brief and largely repeats that it represents your culture. Develop this by explaining what visitors might learn or enjoy, and give a little more detail about the dish’s ingredients or preparation. The response also contains 134 words, below the required 150, so the letter needs further development. A fuller explanation and a clear closing would help complete the task more effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The letter has a recognisable structure: an opening, a paragraph offering and describing the dish, and a final reason for including it. The ideas are generally easy to follow, and the sequence from the offer to the dish’s cultural significance is sensible. However, the progression is limited because the final paragraph repeats the point that Hilsha is a national fish and represents your culture, rather than extending the argument. Some links between ideas are also awkward, as in “This is the best dish in our country because of its richness gravy with our country's culture.” Organise the description and event-related reasons more distinctly, and use clearer transitions to show how each detail supports your offer.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “national fish,” “mustard oil,” “gravy,” and “culture,” so the reader can understand the dish and its significance. The range is adequate for communicating the main points, but several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, which limits precision. For example, “richness gravy” and “get it fry” do not express the intended meanings naturally, while “request you that I want to present” is unnecessarily awkward. Choose more precise food vocabulary and check common combinations, such as describing a curry as having a rich gravy and saying that fish is fried. This would make the letter sound more fluent and appropriate.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including the explanation beginning “As it is a national fish in my country.” The main meaning is usually understandable, but errors in verb forms, sentence construction, and articles occur across the response. For instance, “an event that celebrating” needs a correctly formed verb phrase, and “I would like to request you that I want” combines structures incorrectly. The sentence “Most of the people enjoy eating with rice” also leaves the object of “eating” unclear. Work on forming relative clauses and indirect requests accurately, and check articles and sentence completeness. More reliable control of these patterns would make your ideas easier to read.

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.