Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-26

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You recently received a letter from a friend asking for advice about whether to go to college or to try to get a job. You think he/she should get a job.

Write a letter to this friend. In your letter

• say why he/she would not enjoy going to college
• explain why getting a job is a good idea for him/her
• suggest types of job that would be suitable for him/her

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear ................. ,

Student answer (Band 4.5)

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to express my constructive feedback regarding the cooking course in renowned institution, which I have done for last 2 months.

In this course, I had learnt about the different reciepes of Italian food, which enhance my culinary skills. Moreover, it helped me to bettter understand that how one ingredient can be used in different ways.

After finished the course, I got an opportunity to participate in the cooking contest, where i showed my skills to use a particular ingredient for different purposes. I had won the prize in the competition, and everyone really praised my cookery skills.

I would appreciate if the school will offer a course related to the baking goods. As there will be summer vocation coming, and most of the time people spent at home so it will help to utilize the time to learn something at home.

I hope you will consider my suggestion.

Kind regards,

Parwinder Kaur

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 2.0

The response is completely off-topic. The task required a letter to a friend advising them on whether to go to college or get a job. Instead, the student wrote a formal letter to an institution providing feedback on a cooking course. Because the student failed to address any of the bullet points or the core purpose of the prompt, the response does not meet the requirements of the task. It is a fundamental failure to follow instructions, which results in a very low score for Task Achievement.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The letter is structured with a salutation, body paragraphs, and a sign-off, which gives it the appearance of a letter. However, the logical progression is irrelevant to the prompt. Cohesive devices such as 'Moreover' and 'After finished the course' are used, but they serve to connect ideas that are entirely unrelated to the task. Paragraphing is present, but the lack of relevance to the prompt makes the overall coherence ineffective.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is adequate for a basic level of communication, using terms like 'culinary skills', 'ingredient', and 'competition'. However, there are errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'baking goods' (should be 'baked goods') and 'summer vocation' (should be 'summer vacation'). The range is limited and does not demonstrate the flexibility required for higher bands, though the meaning is generally clear despite the irrelevance of the content.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

There are several grammatical errors throughout the text. Examples include 'in renowned institution' (missing article), 'I had learnt' (incorrect tense usage), 'After finished the course' (should be 'After finishing'), and 'how one ingredient can be used' (unnecessary 'that'). While the student attempts some complex sentence structures, the frequency of errors is high, and the control over basic grammar is inconsistent. The sentence structure is often simplistic or awkward.

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

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