Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-04

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 respectfully write this letter to let you know that I have some suggestions that you might like to add directly to the menu on celebration. is called menudo and adobo this is most popular food in my country that every big event appeared.

Firstly, the menudo this food is perfect for massive people and have a delicious taste that might like the participant on gathering, this type of food made by pork, pork liver, sausages vegetables such as carrots, potato, bell paper. it's a quite complicated but after all is tasty.

second recommendation, is adobo this food is the most popular dishes in massive event in my country. because you can prefer it by a half of hour Moreover, this food can do a lot of Virant this can be pork adobo, chicken adobo, fish adobo, etc. is simple to make and the ingredients of this are not complicated compared in menudo however, adobo have a great taste and can be custom by what they like if they want spicy, salty, sweet, all of they want.

I would love if you noticed my suggestion and added to the menu, many people in my country are attending in event. I'm happy to tell my idea

THANK YOU

Sincerely your josh

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You partially address all parts of the task by offering to make two dishes, naming them, and giving basic reasons for their inclusion, such as that they are popular and suit a crowd. However, your ideas are somewhat limited and under-developed. For instance, when you mention that 'menudo this food is perfect for massive people' and list ingredients like 'carrots, potato, bell paper', the explanation lacks depth. Similarly, your description of adobo touches on cooking time and variations, but the explanation of why it fits the event remains quite basic. To move to a higher band, you need to extend your ideas further, perhaps by describing the cultural significance or flavour profile of the dishes in greater detail and maintaining a more consistent, appropriate tone throughout the letter.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is some basic organisation in your response, with paragraph breaks separating your introduction, your first dish, your second dish, and your conclusion. However, there is no clear overall progression, and the transitions between ideas feel abrupt. For example, moving from 'Dear Luis' directly into 'I respectfully write this letter...' lacks smooth introductory flow. Furthermore, your use of cohesive devices is inadequate or inaccurate; you rely heavily on repetitive connectors like 'this food', 'is simple to make', and 'however' without managing referencing clearly, as seen in phrases like 'the ingredients of this are not complicated compared in menudo'. To improve, you should use a wider variety of referencing pronouns and logical connectors to link your sentences and paragraphs more naturally.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

Your vocabulary is limited but minimally adequate to convey your basic message about the dishes. You attempt some less common items related to food and cooking, such as 'ingredients', 'variations' (implied by 'Virant'), and descriptors like 'spicy, salty, sweet'. However, there are noticeable errors in word choice, word form, and spelling that occasionally cause difficulty for the reader. Examples include writing 'bell paper' instead of bell pepper, 'massive people' instead of a large crowd, 'prefer it' instead of prepare it, and 'Virant' instead of variety. Additionally, your phrasing often feels unnatural, such as 'every big event appeared'. To achieve a higher score, you need to expand your lexical range, use correct collocations, and check your spelling carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

Your writing displays a very limited range of sentence structures, relying mostly on simple sentences joined by commas or basic conjunctions, with your few attempts at complex structures often becoming faulty. You make frequent errors in grammar and punctuation that can cause difficulty for the reader, including problems with subject-verb agreement, missing articles, incorrect prepositions, and run-on sentences. For example, you write 'menu on celebration. is called menudo and adobo this is most popular food', which contains major punctuation and structural errors. Other errors include 'compared in menudo' instead of compared to menudo, and 'all of they want' instead of whatever they want. To improve your grammar score, you need to demonstrate better control over basic sentence boundaries, verb forms, and articles while successfully incorporating accurate complex structures.

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

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