Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-10

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)

Dear Luis

I am writing this letter to inform you that I am member of an International Students club and on this event I am preparing the famous food from my home country. So, I am planning to prepare butter chicken and butter naan because it should be like mostly by the people from many countries.

Firstly, I want to add this dish on event because it is not to spicy and everyone can eat this dish easily. So at the end i want to request you to taste this butter chicken.

Your sincerely.

Divyam

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0

The response fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 150 words, which significantly impacts the development of the ideas. While you have addressed the three bullet points—offering to make a dish, describing it, and explaining why it should be included—the content is very brief and lacks the necessary detail to fully develop the response. To improve, you should expand on the description of the dish (e.g., its ingredients, preparation method, or cultural significance) and provide more substantial reasons for its inclusion in the event. The current length is insufficient to demonstrate the ability to develop a topic fully.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The letter is very short, which limits the ability to demonstrate a range of cohesive devices. There is a basic attempt at logical progression, using 'Firstly' to introduce a point, but the overall structure is underdeveloped. The paragraphing is insufficient, as the entire body of the letter is compressed into one or two very short segments. To improve, ensure you use a wider variety of linking words (e.g., 'furthermore', 'consequently', 'in addition') and organize your ideas into clear, distinct paragraphs for the introduction, body, and conclusion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is functional but very limited. You rely on basic terms such as 'famous food', 'preparing', and 'eat'. There is little attempt to use more sophisticated or topic-specific vocabulary related to food or event planning. To reach a higher band, you should incorporate more descriptive adjectives and precise terminology (e.g., 'culinary tradition', 'aromatic', 'staple dish', 'participate'). The repetition of simple words hinders the overall quality of the expression.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response contains several grammatical errors that affect clarity. For example, 'I am member' should be 'I am a member', and 'it should be like mostly by the people' is grammatically incorrect and unclear. There is also a lack of complex sentence structures, as most sentences are simple or contain errors in word order. To improve, focus on using articles correctly, ensuring subject-verb agreement, and attempting more complex sentence forms, such as using relative clauses or conditional structures.

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

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