Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-08

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

Student answer (Band 5.5)

with its capacity for bringing down government and scarring political careers, the onion plays an explosive role in the Indian politics. This week, report of rising onion prices have made front-page news and absorbed the attention of the governing elite . The most vital ingredient in India cooking the basic elements with which all dishes begin and normally the cheapest vegetable available, the pink onions is an essential items in the shopping basket of families of all classes. but in recent week, the onion has started to seem an unaffordable luxury for India poor over past few days another sharp surge in prices has begun to unsettle the influential urban middle classes. The sudden spike in prices has been caused by large exports to neighboring countries and a shortage of supply but the increase follows a trend of rising consumer prices across the board from diesel fuel to cement from milk to lentils

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response addresses the topic of rising onion prices in India, but it fails to follow the conventions of a General Training Task 1 letter. The prompt requires a letter format (e.g., to a friend, a landlord, or a local council), yet this submission is written as a journalistic news report. While the content is relevant to the subject matter, the failure to adopt the appropriate format and tone for a letter significantly impacts the task achievement score. To improve, ensure you identify the intended recipient and purpose of the letter before writing, and structure your response with appropriate salutations and closings.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The text is presented as a single block of text without paragraphing, which makes it difficult to follow the progression of ideas. While there is a logical flow from the political impact of onions to the causes of the price surge, the lack of paragraph breaks hinders readability. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'but in recent week' and 'the sudden spike', but they are sometimes used mechanically. To reach a higher band, you should organize your ideas into distinct paragraphs—for instance, one for the problem and one for the causes—and use a wider variety of linking words to connect your sentences more naturally.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate a reasonable range of vocabulary, such as 'governing elite', 'unaffordable luxury', and 'sharp surge'. However, there are several errors in word form and collocation that detract from the quality, such as 'in recent week' (should be 'weeks'), 'India cooking' (should be 'Indian cooking'), and 'essential items' (should be 'essential item'). While you attempt to use more sophisticated language, the inaccuracies in pluralization and word choice are noticeable. Focusing on correct collocations and ensuring your nouns and adjectives agree in number will help improve your lexical precision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors. Examples include missing articles ('in the Indian politics' should be 'in Indian politics'), subject-verb agreement issues ('report of rising onion prices have' should be 'has'), and punctuation errors, such as the lack of commas in lists ('from diesel fuel to cement from milk to lentils'). These errors occur throughout the text and occasionally cause the reader to pause. To improve, pay closer attention to basic subject-verb agreement and ensure that your punctuation clearly separates items in a list or distinct clauses.

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

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