Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-08

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 6.5)

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to provide my exceptional feedback on the cookery course that I had attended last month.

I enrolled into a 2 week basic course in the month of August. The program caters to all the levels of the experience in cooking and different age groups. This not only helped me to socialise with others but also gave me an opportunity to learn their personalities and interests. I learned the basic elements of cooking, like the temperature of oil that should be maintained when frying and how to identify whether the salt or spices are good enough for the food to serve.

Before I find myself very confused about the food taste and today I am able to cook for my friends and families without hesitation. I was pleased to watch them enjoying my food. Furthermore, I am interested in learning contemporary style of cooking where I can fusion the Indian tastes with international flavours. I wonder if the school can offer such type of cookery classes.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Cathy Karen

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

You have successfully addressed all three bullet points in the prompt. You described your enjoyment of the course, mentioned your current cooking frequency, and suggested a specific new course. The tone is appropriate for a formal letter to a course director. To reach a higher band, ensure that your ideas are slightly more developed. For instance, when mentioning the cooking you have done since the course, you could provide a specific example of a dish you prepared to make the response more engaging and detailed. Overall, the task is fully covered.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The letter is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a closing. You use some cohesive devices such as 'Furthermore' and 'not only... but also' to link ideas. However, the progression between sentences could be smoother. For example, the transition between the description of the course and your personal progress is a bit abrupt. Using more varied linking words or phrases would help the flow of the letter. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the different requirements of the task, which aids readability.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey your meaning clearly. Phrases like 'caters to all the levels' and 'contemporary style of cooking' are well-used. However, there are some minor inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'provide my exceptional feedback' (which sounds slightly unnatural) and 'fusion the Indian tastes' (where 'fuse' would be the correct verb). While these errors do not impede communication, improving your precision with collocations would elevate your score. You have a good foundation, but try to incorporate more sophisticated synonyms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'I enrolled into a 2 week basic course' (should be 'enrolled in'), 'Before I find myself very confused' (tense error, should be 'I found myself'), and 'such type of cookery classes' (should be 'this type of'). While these errors are noticeable, they do not prevent the reader from understanding your message. To improve, focus on verb tense consistency and preposition usage. Increasing the variety of complex sentence structures would also help you achieve a higher band.

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

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