Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-08-11
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 am writing this letter to invite you on our International students' Club event which we are going to celebrate next week. As a event organiser you need to prepare ahead for this event.
As you aware of this event where students gather and celebrate it with popular cuisine food from all around the world. I remembered one time when I came to your home you made your popular dish from your country and make me try it which I liked it a lot. I don't recall the name of that dish but it was a combination of various herbs and condiments along with turkey. I suggest you to participate in this event with your dish. It will going to blow students mind because I believe they haven't taste anything like this authentic tender turkey.
I am looking forward to meet you soon along with your splendid dish from your hometown.
Your lovingly,
Max
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
You have addressed all three bullet points of the task: offering to make a dish, describing it, and explaining why it should be included. However, there is a significant misunderstanding of the task instructions. You were asked to write to the event organiser, Luis, to offer to make a dish from your own country. Instead, you wrote to Luis asking him to make a dish from his country. This misinterpretation of the prompt's requirements affects the overall task fulfillment. While the ideas are relevant to the theme of an international food event, the failure to follow the core instruction to offer your own dish limits the score.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The letter is organised into logical paragraphs, and there is a clear progression of ideas from the introduction to the conclusion. You use some cohesive devices, such as 'As you are aware' and 'I am looking forward to', which help the flow. However, the connection between sentences is sometimes mechanical, and the transition between the opening and the body paragraph is slightly abrupt. The use of paragraphing is appropriate for a formal letter, but the overall structure could be improved by ensuring each paragraph has a more distinct focus related to the specific bullet points.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'cuisine', 'condiments', and 'authentic'. However, there are several instances of awkward word choice and collocation errors, such as 'invite you on our... event' (should be 'to'), 'make me try it' (should be 'let me try it'), and 'blow students mind' (should be 'blow the students' minds'). These errors do not impede communication, but they indicate a limited control over more sophisticated or idiomatic language. Expanding your range of collocations would help improve your score.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Examples include 'As a event organiser' (should be 'As an'), 'As you aware of' (should be 'As you are aware of'), 'It will going to blow' (should be 'It is going to blow'), and 'I am looking forward to meet' (should be 'to meeting'). These errors are noticeable and occur in basic structures. While the meaning is generally clear, the frequency of these slips prevents a higher score. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and correct preposition usage would be beneficial.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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