Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-08-19

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 or Madam,

I am writing this letter to let you know about my fantastic experience in your cookery school about cooking because before i was just a beginner and do not know much about how to cook basic daily food such as pasta, , Rice, chapati and so on. Now as i did a course i know much better than my siblings and whenever i am making something delicious i always got good comments about my dishes from my family and my relatives.

Actually the course length and class timing are two best things i mostly like about this course because this is the only reason i know about cooking and i did this course during my school summer break within one and half month . Now, i am cooking everyday for my lunch and breakfast without depending on others because i am a gym freak so i can ,manage my daily food calories and protein intake. One thing i wanna suggest you is that you should also offer international food recipe class so students can explore different food from different nations.

Yours faithfully,

Kamaljeet kaur

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The letter covers all three bullet points: describing what was enjoyed, stating the frequency of cooking since the course, and suggesting a new course. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. The description of what was enjoyed is a bit repetitive, focusing heavily on the personal benefit rather than the course content itself. The tone is also slightly informal for a letter to a course director, lacking the professional distance expected in a formal request. To improve, ensure each bullet point is expanded with more specific detail and maintain a consistently formal register throughout the correspondence.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter is generally coherent, but the paragraphing is insufficient. The entire body of the letter is presented as one large block of text, which makes it difficult to follow the transition between the different requirements of the task. While there is some use of cohesive devices like 'Now' and 'Actually', the flow is somewhat mechanical. To reach a higher band, you should use clear paragraph breaks for each distinct point (e.g., one paragraph for enjoyment, one for current cooking habits, and one for the suggestion). This would significantly improve the logical progression of your ideas.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks variety and precision. You rely on basic descriptors like 'fantastic', 'good', and 'best'. There are also some awkward phrasings, such as 'gym freak' and 'international food recipe class', which are not entirely appropriate for a formal letter. While your meaning is clear, you should aim to use more sophisticated vocabulary to describe your experiences and suggestions. For example, instead of saying you 'know much better', you could describe your 'enhanced culinary skills' or 'increased proficiency in the kitchen'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, particularly regarding verb tense consistency and punctuation. For example, 'before i was just a beginner and do not know' should be 'before I was a beginner and did not know'. There are also issues with capitalization (e.g., 'i', 'Rice') and run-on sentences. While you attempt some complex structures, they are often marred by errors that occasionally impede the flow of reading. Focusing on basic sentence construction, subject-verb agreement, and consistent tense usage will help improve your accuracy significantly.

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

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