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 hope you are doing well.

i am writing you to get an permission to be a part of an event in which the internation student's club going to celebrate famous food items arount the world. As an member of the club, i would like to be part of presenting my country's popular dish to be the part of the event and i am very excited to present during the fest.

i am giving a little bit explation how doest it going to look so you will get an idea you are going to select me as a presenter or not.

description of the dish: the name of the dish is vadapav which consider to be eat as an snack in my country. and the item is very popular due to its spicy tangy flavour.it usually made of potato stuffing coverd with gram flour and served with spicy chutney and put in the stuffed bread which is also called "pav".

i am waiting for your response to hear back from you if i am selected to be part of the event or not. finger cossed.

thank you.

your honur,

vishwa

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student successfully covers all three bullet points required in the task instructions. The writer offers to make a popular dish ('vadapav') from their country, describes what the dish consists of ('potato stuffing coverd with gram flour and served with spicy chutney'), and explains why it should be included ('very popular due to its spicy tangy flavour'). The tone is somewhat mixed, shifting between formal and informal elements, but the purpose of the letter is clearly achieved. The ideas are relevant and appropriate for a General Training Task 1 letter. Because the length requirement was successfully met, the response is judged purely on its content and coverage of the prompt, earning a solid Band 6.0 for this criterion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter uses basic paragraphing, though the layout and spacing are slightly irregular (e.g., 'dear luis, / i hope you are doing well.'). Cohesive devices are somewhat repetitive and mechanical, such as the repeated use of 'part of the event' and basic conjunctions like 'and'. Referencing is occasionally unclear, as seen in the phrase 'how doest it going to look so you will get an idea you are going to select me'. The overall organisation is coherent enough to follow the writer's intent easily, but the lack of flexible cohesive control places this response firmly at a Band 5.5.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully communicating everyday food items and descriptions ('spicy tangy flavour', 'potato stuffing', 'gram flour', 'chutney'). However, there are numerous lexical and spelling errors throughout the text, such as 'internation' instead of 'international', 'arount' instead of 'around', 'explation' instead of 'explanation', and 'coverd' instead of 'covered'. The writer attempts less common vocabulary ('presenting', 'description'), but the recurrent spelling inaccuracies and awkward phrasing ('get an permission') restrict the lexical score to a Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control over grammar is weak. There are frequent grammatical errors, such as 'i am writing you to get an permission', 'how doest it going to look', and 'it usually made of'. Punctuation and capitalization are largely ignored, starting sentences and the letter with lowercase letters ('dear luis,', 'i hope'). While meaning is generally clear despite these errors, the high frequency of basic grammatical slips and non-standard structures prevents the response from achieving a higher score, making Band 5.0 appropriate.

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

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