Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-08-31

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're doing well. I 'm writing this letter to offer most popular dish known as "Gulab jaman" in India make a part of our food celebrating event.

At the beginning, I would love to explain about gulab jaman, actually it's a famous sweet dish of my country made of milk powder and sugar and cooked in low flame of oil.

Moving further why it should be a part of this upcoming event the reason behind it is its popularity in all over the world .Moreover, it can be eaten by different food items like with ice-cream. I 'm dam sure this sweet dish will loved by people of all ages and states as its sweet and soft texture.

I would appreciate you if you added this dish in the menu of the food celebration event. i will wait for your positive response.

Best regards,

Anu

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The letter addresses all three bullet points: offering a dish, describing it, and explaining its inclusion. However, the response is slightly under the 150-word minimum, which impacts the development of ideas. While the purpose is clear, the explanation of why the dish should be included is somewhat brief and could have been expanded with more descriptive language to better persuade the organiser. The tone is generally appropriate for a letter to a club member, though it lacks a formal closing structure expected in a standard letter format.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter is organised into logical paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the progression of ideas. However, the use of cohesive devices is somewhat mechanical and limited. Phrases like 'At the beginning' and 'Moving further' are used to transition between points, but they feel slightly unnatural. Additionally, the referencing is occasionally unclear, and the flow between sentences could be improved with a wider variety of linking words to create a more cohesive narrative. Paragraphing is present but could be more effectively utilised to separate the distinct points of the letter.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks range and precision. The student uses basic descriptors like 'famous' and 'popular' repeatedly. There are some inaccuracies in word choice, such as 'dam sure' (informal/slang) and 'cooked in low flame of oil' (awkward phrasing). To reach a higher band, the student should aim for more sophisticated collocations and avoid informal expressions. Spelling is generally accurate, but the range of vocabulary is limited to simple, everyday language, which restricts the ability to convey ideas with nuance or flair.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors. Examples include 'I 'm writing this letter to offer most popular dish' (missing article), 'cooked in low flame' (preposition error), and 'will loved by' (passive voice error). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with the use of apostrophes and capitalization (e.g., 'luis', 'i'). While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to distract the reader and indicate a lack of control over more complex grammatical forms.

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

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