Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

Dear Luis,

I am writing to announce our upcoming International Food Festival! I want to share an exciting addition to the event menu.

I would like to offer to prepare a traditional dish from my home country, India which is Butter Chicken served with the fresh Garlic Naan. This classic combination is one of the most beloved comfort foods in Indian cuisine.

This dish, It consists of marinated, tender chicken pieces cooked in a rich tomatoes, cream and butter gravy. It is infused with aromatic spices like cardamon and cumin creating savory, spiced flavor.

I believe our festival is an immense universal popularity. Furthermore, sharing such a classic comforting meal will help foster connection and cultural appreciation among our members.

I look forward for hearing form you.

Warm

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The letter addresses all three bullet points: offering a dish, describing it, and explaining its inclusion. However, the response is significantly under the 150-word minimum requirement, which negatively impacts the development of ideas. While the description of the dish is clear, the explanation for why it should be included is somewhat brief and lacks depth. Because the length requirement was not met, the task is not fully developed, leading to a lower score in this criterion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter follows a logical structure, with clear paragraphing for each point requested in the prompt. Cohesive devices such as 'Furthermore' and 'This dish' are used to link ideas. However, the flow is occasionally interrupted by minor errors in sentence structure and punctuation. The opening is slightly confusing as it announces the festival rather than simply writing to the organizer about the event. Overall, the progression of ideas is clear, but the limited length prevents a more sophisticated use of cohesive devices.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally appropriate for a semi-formal letter. You used some good descriptive terms like 'marinated', 'tender', and 'aromatic'. However, there are some minor errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'I look forward for hearing form you' (should be 'to hearing from you') and 'immense universal popularity' (which is grammatically awkward). The range is adequate for the task, but more precise vocabulary would be needed for a higher band score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'This dish, It consists of...' (a comma splice/redundant pronoun error) and 'cooked in a rich tomatoes, cream and butter gravy' (incorrect pluralization of 'tomato'). Additionally, there are minor spelling and preposition errors, such as 'form' instead of 'from'. While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the message, they occur frequently enough to limit the score.

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

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