Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-09

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 Madam,

I am writing this letter to share my experience regarding the cooking course, which I have completed last month. Actually I have visiting this city to complete my higher study. Firstly, I do not know about cooking. In beginning period, I was eating outside, but it was unhealthy and expensive. I had shared this with my friend and he suggested to learn cooking. During Summer break, I took admission in your cooking school. it was amazing experience. My teacher, Mr. Sharma taught me in interesting and easy way. He taught me everything practically. Now, I have not prepared only my food by herself, but also prepared for guests. I can make rice, dal, roti, paneer etc.

I would like to suggest you to offer some international food courses as in this modern era, people like to have a variety of options for menu.

Kind regards,

Manpreet Kaur Dhillon

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

You have addressed all three bullet points in the prompt: describing what you enjoyed, mentioning your cooking frequency, and suggesting a new course. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, while you mention enjoying the teacher's style, you could have provided more specific details about the dishes or techniques that made the experience 'amazing'. The letter is functional and covers the requirements, but the depth of information is quite basic, which prevents it from reaching a higher band. To improve, try to expand on your points with more descriptive language and specific examples.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter is generally coherent, and the progression of ideas is logical, moving from your background to your experience and finally to your suggestion. However, the paragraphing is insufficient; the entire body of the letter is presented as one block of text, which makes it harder to read. Additionally, the use of cohesive devices is quite limited. You rely on simple transitions like 'Firstly' and 'Now'. To improve, you should use a wider variety of linking words and phrases (e.g., 'Furthermore', 'Consequently', 'In addition to this') and ensure that you use clear paragraph breaks to separate distinct ideas.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks variety and precision. You use basic terms like 'amazing', 'interesting', and 'easy'. There are also some awkward collocations and word choice errors, such as 'I have visiting this city' (should be 'I have been visiting') and 'I took admission' (a more natural phrasing would be 'I enrolled in'). While your meaning is clear throughout, the range of vocabulary is limited to common, everyday words. To reach a higher band, try to incorporate more specific, topic-related vocabulary and avoid repetitive sentence structures.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text that occasionally distract the reader. Examples include tense errors ('I have completed last month' should be 'I completed last month'), pronoun errors ('prepared... by herself' should be 'by myself'), and article usage issues. You rely mostly on simple sentence structures. While you attempt some complex sentences, they often contain errors, such as 'I do not know about cooking' (should be 'I did not know'). To improve, focus on mastering basic verb tenses and subject-verb agreement, and practice using a wider variety of complex sentence structures with greater accuracy.

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

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