Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-27

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 sir,

I am writing this letter to request you about the job in your restaurant. As we met last weekend in a plane journey and we sat next to each other.

Currently, I am unemployed and recently completed my studies in hotel management so I am looking for any job opportunity. I am intrested in cooking so I firmly believe that I can be a good cook.

I have many qualities and skills such as punctual, honesty as well as time management, which play a vital role to be a cook. Not only this but also cooking is my passion so I think that I would be suitable for this job opportunity.

I look forward to hearing from you. Please let me know if you need any further information.

Yours sincerely,

Arshdeep Singh

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response covers the main points required by the prompt: you reminded the businessman of where you met ('last weekend in a plane journey'), stated the job you are interested in ('cook'), and gave reasons why you would be suitable ('cooking is my passion'). However, the word count requirement of a minimum of 150 words was not met, as the response contains only 134 words. This shortfall prevents full development of the ideas and directly impacts the task achievement score. Additionally, the greeting 'Dear sir' is inappropriate for someone you have already met and conversed with; a name or 'Dear Mr [Name]' would be more suitable.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter follows a clear overall progression, moving from the context of meeting on the plane to your job preferences, and finally to your suitability and sign-off. Paragraphing is used to separate distinct ideas, such as your background in the second paragraph and your personal qualities in the third. However, cohesive devices are somewhat basic and repetitive, such as 'Not only this but also' which contains a grammatical flaw. Referencing is generally clear, but the logical links between sentences could be smoother. Overall, the structural arrangement is adequate for a short letter.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, but it remains basic and somewhat repetitive. You successfully used some relevant terms like 'hotel management', 'unemployed', and 'passion'. However, there is a spelling mistake ('intrested' instead of 'interested') and a word choice/form error in listing qualities ('such as punctual, honesty as well as time management'), where adjectives and nouns are mixed inconsistently. To achieve a higher band, a wider range of less common lexical items and precise collocations related to the restaurant industry should be incorporated.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writing demonstrates a mix of simple and some attempt at complex sentence structures, such as 'As we met last weekend in a plane journey and we sat next to each other.' There are noticeable grammatical errors, including preposition misuse ('in a plane journey' instead of 'on a plane journey'), incorrect phrasing ('request you about' instead of 'write to you regarding'), and parallel structure errors in listing qualities. Despite these errors, meaning is generally clear and does not severely impede the reader's understanding.

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

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