Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-21
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 grateful to hear that the international student club is going to organize the event of celebrating the popular food from all around the globe.My name is Ahan and I am a member of this club from around one year and i want to give a suggestion to u about to make a famous dish from my country India.
As u know India is the country of festivals and on festivals or any special occasions we usually make sweet sweet dishes .I just want you to please add one sweet dish laddoo on this event which will be liked by many people in the event.I also help you to recommend some of the best cook or restaurants regarding this.Laddoo is made up of flour,dry fruits and syrup and they are round in shape.
I will be very happy to get a good reply from u
Your sincerely,
Ahan
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The response successfully covers all three bullet points required in the prompt. You offered to make a popular dish from your country, India, by stating, 'I want to give a suggestion to u about to make a famous dish from my country India.' You also described what the dish is, explaining that 'Laddoo is made up of flour, dry fruits and syrup and they are round in shape.' Furthermore, you explained why it should be included, mentioning that 'it will be liked by many people in the event.' However, some ideas are a bit underdeveloped and informal, which aligns the response closely with a Band 6 level where all parts are addressed, but some areas lack full elaboration. Your tone is appropriate for an informal letter to a club member.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The letter follows a clear informal letter format with an appropriate greeting ('Dear Luis,') and sign-off ('Your sincerely, Ahan'). There is a coherent overall arrangement of ideas, moving from your introduction and suggestion to the description of the dish and its appeal. However, paragraphing is underdeveloped, as the second paragraph is overly long and crams multiple separate ideas together without adequate breaks. Additionally, cohesive devices are somewhat basic and mechanical, relying on simple connectors. Referencing is also occasionally unclear, such as the transition into 'I also help you to recommend some of the best cook or restaurants regarding this.' These cohesion issues place the response at a Band 5.5 to 6.0 level.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, but it tends to be overly basic and conversational, using words like 'popular', 'famous', and 'sweet sweet dishes'. There are also instances of informal or inappropriate phrasing, such as writing 'u' instead of 'you', and the phrasing 'sweet sweet dishes' which is repetitive. Less common lexical items are attempted, such as 'dry fruits', 'syrup', and 'festival', but word choice and collocation are sometimes slightly unnatural, as seen in 'I also help you to recommend some of the best cook'. Because the vocabulary is repetitive and contains informal abbreviations, it meets the criteria for Band 5.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'As u know India is the country of festivals and on festivals or any special occasions we usually make sweet sweet dishes.' However, there are frequent grammatical errors and punctuation issues throughout the response. Examples include missing articles ('organize the event of celebrating', 'add one sweet dish laddoo'), incorrect prepositions or verbs ('from around one year', 'I also help you to recommend', 'made up of'), and lowercase letters for 'i' and 'u'. Punctuation is also faulty, with missing commas and spaces placed incorrectly before punctuation marks. These frequent errors can occasionally cause slight hesitation for the reader, placing this response at Band 5.0.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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