Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-16

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)

Sure. Here is the text typed out from the image:

⸻

Dear Sir,

I am writing this letter for taking part in the upcoming event. I got to know about food event from my classmates.

I would like to participate in it with an Indian street food pani-puri, which is a very popular street food in both India and Bangladesh. This dish contains three elements like mint-coriander flavoured water, potato and chickpea filled in round shaped puri. It tastes sour and spicy at the same time.

I think pani-puri would be great snack for people to try and they will get to know about Indian street food. As well as, in my opinion Indian cuisine is very popular than the street food so it would be great element to add in the information food event.

Yours faithfully,

Manzing

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response covers all three bullet points required by the prompt: you offer to make a dish (pani-puri), describe what it is (mint-coriander water, potato, and chickpea in a round puri), and explain why it should be included (to introduce people to Indian street food). However, the greeting 'Dear Sir' does not match the prompt's instruction to write to Luis, the event organiser. Furthermore, the length requirement has not been met, as the response contains only 138 words, falling short of the 150-word minimum. This under-length impacts the overall development of ideas, placing this criterion at band 5.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter is organised into clear paragraphs, starting with an introduction, moving to the description and explanation, and ending with a sign-off. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'which', 'and', and 'As well as'. However, referencing is sometimes faulty, such as opening with 'Dear Sir' instead of addressing Luis as requested, and the transition 'As well as, in my opinion Indian cuisine is very popular than the street food' is awkward and mechanically linked. Paragraphing is adequate for a short letter, but the overall progression lacks smooth flow due to basic cohesive ties. This corresponds to a band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting specific food terms like 'mint-coriander flavoured water', 'chickpea', and 'puri'. There are some noticeable lexical errors and awkward collocations, such as writing 'for taking part' instead of 'to take part' or 'about food event' missing an article. Additionally, the phrase 'popular than the street food' contains a comparative error ('more popular'). While communication is not impeded, the limited range and word-choice errors restrict the score to a band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as relative clauses ('which is a very popular street food'). There are several grammatical errors throughout the text, including article omissions ('about food event') and preposition misuse ('writing this letter for taking part'). The comparative structure ('is very popular than') is also inaccurate. Although these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding your message, they occur frequently enough to prevent the grammar score from reaching band 6.0, resulting in a band 5.5.

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

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