Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-20
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 this letter to appreciate you. I hear that news you are organising an event to celebrate popular food form around the world. So, I would like to participate this event.
In my home town there are many local dish are famous and healthy for our body. That dish name is "Pav Bhaji" Which is very famous in my country. people like to eat this dish breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
That dish has full of protein. If you want to make this dish you need all types of vegetables. and some spices. first boil all the vegetables and mass them and add some spices like, chill powder, salt, then mix proper and cook 5 to 10 minutes. after that dish is ready to eat.
This dish is very easy to cook. This dish ready within 10 to 15 minutes. Also, it is very healthy for our body. and you can eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. According to me, this dish is crucial for the entire world.
I look forward to hearing you.
Yours sincerely,
Kishan.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The candidate has successfully addressed all three bullet points required in the task instructions. First, you offered to make a popular dish from your country by stating, "I would like to participate this event." Second, you described the dish, identifying it as "Pav Bhaji" and explaining that it contains vegetables and spices. Finally, you explained why it should be included, noting that "this dish is very easy to cook" and "very healthy for our body." Although some ideas are slightly repetitive—such as mentioning the cooking time and suitability for all meals multiple times—the main requirements of a semi-formal letter to the event organiser are covered. The tone is appropriate for an international student club context, meeting the basic expectations for a Band 5.5 to 6.0 performance.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The letter features an overall coherent arrangement with a clear purpose established in the opening and a polite sign-off at the end. Paragraphing is attempted to separate the introduction, description, recipe steps, and conclusion. However, cohesion is frequently mechanical and sometimes faulty. For example, transition phrases like "So," "first," "after that," and "Also" are overused and formulaic. Referencing and linking between sentences are occasionally abrupt, such as "That dish name is 'Pav Bhaji' Which is very famous..." where punctuation and relative clauses are mishandled. While the letter is easy to follow overall, the mechanical nature of the cohesive devices and basic paragraph links place this firmly in the Band 5.5 or 6.0 range.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, but it remains basic and repetitive. Phrases such as "popular food form around the world," "local dish are famous," and "very healthy for our body" demonstrate a limited lexical range. There are several noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as writing "form" instead of "from," "participate this event" instead of "participate in this event," and "mass them" instead of "mash them." While the reader can understand the intended meaning without severe difficulty, the lack of precision and frequent lexical inaccuracies prevent the response from achieving a higher band score.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The student displays a mix of simple and attempted complex sentence forms, but grammatical control is weak. There are frequent errors in verb forms, articles, and sentence boundaries. For instance, "That dish has full of protein" incorrectly uses 'has' instead of 'is', and sentence fragments like "Which is very famous in my country" start with a capital letter despite being dependent clauses. Punctuation errors are also common, such as comma splices and missing periods. Although some basic sentences are correct, the frequency of grammatical errors causes noticeable distraction and occasional difficulty for the reader, aligning with the Band 5.0 descriptors.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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