Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-08-15

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You recently did a short cookery course. The cookery school has asked for your feedback on this course. Write a letter to the course director at the cookery school. In your letter

• describe what you enjoyed about the course
• say how much cooking you've done since the course
• suggest another cookery course you’d like the school to offer

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear sir ,

Although I was not expecting you to ask for review but I always wanted to give a positive review.

While doing this course I enjoyed the participation of other students from different countries . Students from various countries played an amazing role in my cooking skills . With the help of them I had to known that different country has different style of eating styles and it changes throughout the year. They follow weathers . For example in China people do not eat fish in summer while they eat shrimps in hot weather .On the other hand folks of Europian countries do not care about weather and they eat any type of mean in any weather . Afterwards the course I started cooking at home since then I never missed a single day without cooking . Moreover my family is very impressed about my nurtured skills about cooking . They always praise of dishes by saying delicious . I kind of in love of this word .

If you are asking about suggestion to add an another cookery course then I would like to say that add korian food to your list of courses .

Thanks

Shub

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

You have addressed all three bullet points of the task: describing what you enjoyed, mentioning your cooking frequency, and suggesting a new course. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat uneven. The section on cultural differences in eating habits is quite long and slightly tangential to the core request of providing feedback on the course itself. The suggestion for a Korean cooking course is clear, but the letter lacks a formal tone appropriate for a communication with a course director. To improve, ensure your ideas remain focused on the specific requirements of the prompt and maintain a professional tone throughout.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter is organized into a single block of text, which makes it difficult to follow. You should use clear paragraph breaks to separate the different points requested in the prompt. While you use some cohesive devices like 'Moreover' and 'On the other hand', the flow between sentences is sometimes disjointed. For example, the transition from discussing cultural eating habits to your personal cooking at home is abrupt. Improving your paragraphing and using a wider variety of linking words will help the reader follow your ideas more logically.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, but there are several instances of awkward phrasing and word choice errors. For example, 'nurtured skills' is not a standard collocation, and 'folks of Europian countries' is too informal for this context. You also have some spelling errors, such as 'korian' instead of 'Korean' and 'Europian' instead of 'European'. To reach a higher band, focus on using more precise vocabulary and ensuring correct spelling of common terms. Try to avoid repetitive phrasing like 'I kind of in love of this word'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the letter that occasionally impede clarity. Issues include incorrect verb tenses ('I had to known'), missing articles ('add an another'), and awkward sentence structures ('Although I was not expecting you to ask for review'). You rely mostly on simple sentence structures. To improve, try to incorporate a wider range of complex sentences and pay closer attention to subject-verb agreement and preposition usage. Proofreading for basic errors like 'Dear sir' (which should be capitalized) and 'mean' (likely meant 'meat') will also significantly improve your score.

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

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