Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-12

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You have just read an article in a national newspaper which claims that town centres in your country all look very similar to each other. You don't fully agree with this opinion.

Write a letter to the editor of the newspaper. In your letter

• say which points in the article you agree with
• explain ways in which your town centre is different from most other town centres
• offer to give a guided tour of your town to the writer of the article

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Student answer (Band 5.0)

Dear Sir

Actually I wanna write a letter to you regarding the towncenters which is almost same in our country like as another countries. For instance, there is lot of towncenters in our country such as surrey central mall , guildford town center so these are mainly same as like Elante mall which is located in India, Chandigarh.

So we are normally visit at those centers in which some brands and some shops and food courts. However, when we see the Elante mall which is almost same like same type of shops , brands, and food courts . So we didn’t see any difference between two of them. In addition, exterior and interior design and features are also same . So offer to you take a tour of own towncentres mainly which is in Chandigarh . I hope you will found same things which is in Canada towncenters.

Thanking You.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The candidate has attempted all three bullet points required by the prompt, although the tone and content are somewhat confused. The letter begins with the phrase 'Dear Sir', followed by an assertion that town centres are the same, pointing to examples like 'surrey central mall'. However, rather than arguing that the student's town is different (the second bullet point), the response paradoxically states that Elante mall in India and Canadian malls are 'almost same like same type of shops', which contradicts the prompt requirement to explain how your town centre is different. Furthermore, the final bullet point inviting the writer for a tour is awkwardly framed as offering a tour of Chandigarh rather than the student's local town. While the parts of the task are mentioned, the development is contradictory and incomplete in fulfilling the core premise. Therefore, a band score of 5.0 is appropriate.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The response lacks clear logical organisation and progression. The greeting 'Dear Sir' is used, but the conventional structure of a formal letter to an editor is missing, and the sign-off 'Thanking You' is abrupt. Paragraphing is poorly handled, with a single dense block of text where ideas shift abruptly without adequate transitional devices. Cohesive markers such as 'So', 'However', and 'In addition' are overused or misused, often failing to establish logical relationships between sentences. For instance, 'However, when we see the Elante mall...' does not introduce a contrasting idea effectively. The referencing is also occasionally unclear, such as shifting abruptly from Canadian malls to Chandigarh. These structural and cohesive weaknesses place the writing firmly in the band 5.0 category.

Lexical Resource — Band 4.5

The vocabulary used is very limited and repetitive, repeatedly relying on basic words like 'mall', 'shops', 'brands', 'food courts', and 'same'. There are noticeable errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'we are normally visit at those centers' instead of 'we usually visit those centres', and 'offer to you take a tour' instead of 'offer to take you on a tour'. The candidate attempts some less common terms like 'exterior and interior design', but overall, the lexical range is minimally adequate for the task and struggles to convey precise meanings. These lexical inadequacies and frequent errors justify a band score of 4.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.5

The response exhibits a very limited range of grammatical structures, relying heavily on simple or poorly formed compound sentences. There are frequent and intrusive grammatical errors throughout the text, such as 'Actually I wanna write' (too informal and grammatically flawed), 'towncenters which is almost same' (subject-verb agreement error), 'like as another countries' (incorrect prepositional phrasing), and 'you will found same things' (incorrect tense form after modal auxiliary). Punctuation is also problematic, with missing commas and incorrect spacing around punctuation marks. These persistent errors cause noticeable difficulty for the reader and reflect the descriptors for band 4.5.

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

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