Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-08-28

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 5.0)

In today's times the internet is making it easy to study online from home. Some prefer online courses to study and they think it is better. Others prefer classroom education.

Discuss both views and share your opinion.

In the contemporary world, the internet has made it easily accessible to study online. There has been an ongoing argument among individuals regarding online cources where some people feel online education is more beneficial, whereas, others prefer classroom education. This essay will elaborate on both sides of the argument and then give my opinion.

Those advocating for online courses believe that there are several benefits. The primary reason why children should prefer online education is the convinience. To elaborate, studying courses online helps children save significant amount of their time. In fact, it is observed that the majority of students spend many hours on their daily commute, preventing them to engage in extra co-curricular activities such as sports, and arts. Furthermore, studying in classrooms is relatively more expensive than in home. To elaborate, parents are compelled to spend on school uniforms, library fees, and commute fees. Instead, purchasing an online course helps parents save substantial amount of money.

On the other hand, proponents of physical classrooms also present compelling arguments. First and foremost, they believe that communication skill is as crucial as students' cognitive growth. To elaborate, while a student studying through the internet may achieve impressive academic scores in their final examination, they usually struggle to develope interpersonal skills due to a lack of the social exposure.

To conclude, even though both sides have merits. I believe studying in classroom is of paramount importance because it provides the appropriate environment that plays a vital role in students' personal growth. I completely support the view that parents should prioritize classroom education which is beneficial for children's overall well-being.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response1.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource6.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy6.0
Overall5.0

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 1.0

The response is completely off-topic. The prompt requested a letter to an event organiser regarding a food celebration, but you have written an essay about online versus classroom education. Because you did not address any of the bullet points (offering a dish, describing it, or explaining its inclusion), the task achievement score is severely impacted. You must carefully read the instructions to ensure you are writing the correct task type (letter vs. essay) and addressing the specific requirements provided in the prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay structure is logical, with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. You use cohesive devices such as 'To elaborate', 'Furthermore', and 'On the other hand' to link ideas. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different viewpoints. Despite the response being off-topic, the internal organisation of the text is coherent and follows a standard academic essay format, which demonstrates a reasonable level of control over paragraph structure and logical progression.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate a sufficient range of vocabulary to discuss the topic of education, such as 'contemporary world', 'cognitive growth', 'interpersonal skills', and 'paramount importance'. There are some minor spelling errors, such as 'cources' instead of 'courses', 'convinience' instead of 'convenience', and 'develope' instead of 'develop'. However, the vocabulary is generally appropriate for the context of an essay, and your meaning is clear throughout the text.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are some grammatical errors, such as 'made it easily accessible' (should be 'made it easy to access'), 'expensive than in home' (should be 'expensive than at home'), and 'preventing them to engage' (should be 'preventing them from engaging'). While these errors are noticeable, they do not impede communication. You have a decent grasp of sentence construction, though more attention to prepositions and verb patterns would improve your accuracy.

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

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