Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-12

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 6.0)

Dear Sir/Madam,

I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing this letter to express my gratitude that I had a great experience during my whole course.

I really like the way you taught us the new skills and art of presenting the food in a unique way. My favorite part was tasting time. I felt both nervous and happy at the time when you taste our food. I learnt a lot of new cuisines and variety of dishes. Also at my home, I used to cook and make variety of new items for my family. My family was really happy with me and they appreciated me.

It is my dream to open an restaurant and being in this course already enhanced my skills. I would also suggest that there should be more courses of different nationalities food. So that there is a exposure to different cultural food and that experience will help a lot to students who want to achieve something internationally. It was a great time, I had with you. I would love to learn more from you.

Thank You,

Yours Faithfully,

Mehak Arora

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response covers all three bullet points required by the task prompt. You successfully describe what you enjoyed about the course, mentioning the new skills, food presentation, and the tasting sessions. You also touch upon how much cooking you have done since the course by noting that you regularly make new items for your family. Finally, you suggest another cookery course involving different nationalities' food. The tone is appropriately formal for a letter to a course director, although some ideas could be slightly more fully developed. For example, elaborating on the specific cuisines practised would enhance the development. Nonetheless, all parts of the prompt are addressed clearly, satisfying the requirements for a Band 6.5 or 7.0. Because your ideas are relevant and all constraints are met, this earns a solid Band 6.5.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter is organised into logical paragraphs, starting with an introduction, moving through the course details and your cooking at home, and concluding with your future suggestion and sign-off. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Also', 'It is my dream', and 'So that', although some connections feel a bit mechanical or repetitive. For instance, sentences like 'I am writing this letter to express my gratitude that I had a great experience during my whole course' could flow more naturally. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately to separate your main points. Referencing is mostly clear, though occasional shifts in pronouns make the flow slightly uneven. Overall, the organisation ensures a coherent progression of ideas, aligning well with the Band 6 descriptor.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

Your vocabulary is adequate for the task, successfully communicating your experiences and suggestions. You attempt some less common items such as 'gratitude', 'unique way', and 'internationally'. However, there are noticeable word-choice and collocation errors that prevent a higher score. For example, writing 'open an restaurant' contains a grammatical article error, and 'different nationalities food' would be better phrased as 'international cuisine' or 'food from different nationalities'. Similarly, 'at the time when you taste our food' has slight unnaturalness in tense and word choice. Despite these limitations, the vocabulary used is sufficient to convey your meaning clearly without impeding the reader, making this a clear Band 6 performance.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures throughout the letter, such as 'I would also suggest that there should be more courses of different nationalities food.' There are, however, several grammatical errors and awkward phrasings. For instance, 'gratitude that I had a great experience' is awkward, and 'open an restaurant' is an article mistake. You also write 'It was a great time, I had with you', which contains an unnecessary comma and preposition mismatch. While these errors occur regularly, they rarely impede communication, and your meaning remains transparent. The grammatical control reflects a mix of accurate simple forms and developing complex structures, placing your writing comfortably at a Band 6.

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

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