Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-06

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

During a recent plane journey, you sat next to a businessman who owns a chain of restaurants. You talked to him and he suggested that you should contact him about a possible job in one of his restaurants.

Write a letter to this businessman. In your letter

• remind him when and where you met
• tell him what kind of job you are interested in
• say why you think you would be suitable for the job

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

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

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear Jack,

Hope you are well. I am writing to express my interest for vacant position in to your restaurants. Firstly, I would like to introduce my self, my name is Sabiha. If you could remembered, last month through our air journey, we were sitting next to each others. It was lovely time to spoke with you. During our conversation, you introduced yourself as a well-known businessman and you was saying that you running a restaurants business and I can contact whenever I needed a work in restaurants. Apparently, I am looking for a work as I am passionate about cooking and serving. I have 26 months of experience working in cloud kitchens

I want to contribute my skills in to your restaurant and I will be grateful if you could provide me further information.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The letter covers all three bullet points: it reminds the recipient of the meeting, specifies the interest in a job, and explains suitability. However, the response is significantly under the 150-word minimum, which limits the development of ideas. The explanation of suitability is brief, and the overall tone is somewhat informal for a professional inquiry. Because the length requirement was not met, the task is not fully developed, leading to a lower score in this criterion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter is generally easy to follow, but the paragraphing is insufficient. The entire body of the letter is presented as a single block, which hinders the logical progression of ideas. While there are some attempts at cohesive devices (e.g., 'Firstly', 'During our conversation'), the flow is occasionally disrupted by awkward phrasing and repetitive sentence structures. To improve, you should separate the introduction, the details of the meeting, the job request, and the closing into distinct paragraphs.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for basic communication but lacks the precision and variety expected for a higher band. There are several instances of awkward word choices, such as 'air journey' instead of 'flight' and 'running a restaurants business' instead of 'running a restaurant chain'. The phrasing 'provide me further information' is functional but could be more sophisticated. To achieve a higher score, focus on using more natural collocations and professional terminology related to the hospitality industry.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

There are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede the flow of reading. Examples include 'interest for vacant position in to your restaurants' (preposition and article errors), 'If you could remembered' (incorrect verb tense), and 'you was saying' (subject-verb agreement). The sentence structures are mostly simple, with limited use of complex forms. While the meaning is generally clear, the high frequency of errors in basic grammar and sentence construction prevents a higher score.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.