Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-26

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 and Madam,

I am writing you to share my honest feedback on the short cookery course that I did from your school recently and provide several points regarding tihis.

Firstly, I would explain that their are numerous skills and techniques which other participants as well me enjoy during the course. Starting from the cutting various sort of vegitables and meat with sharp knife was very fasinating experience. Moreover, baking cakes was even more challanging it contain lots of focus which I personally enoyed alot.

Furthermore, this enhance my ability to try various dishes and cusines and make me mater in that. Everyone in family and firends wish to eat and enjoy same dishes erery week. Now with right traning I can work in any resturant and handle things smothly without any pressure.

Finally, I would like to suggest managment to introduce italian cusine course becaue this type of food got more attention of people in our city.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Hamza

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The candidate successfully covers all three bullet points required by the prompt. First, the writer describes enjoyable aspects of the course, such as cutting vegetables and baking cakes, mentioning that it was a fascinating and challenging experience. Second, the response touches upon how much cooking has been done since, noting that family and friends enjoy the dishes every week and mentioning the potential to work in a restaurant. Third, a clear suggestion is made to introduce an Italian cuisine course. All parts of the prompt are addressed, and the tone is appropriate for a formal letter to a course director, although the salutation has a minor error. The ideas are relevant and generally well-developed, earning a solid band score for task fulfillment.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter is structured with appropriate paragraphing, opening with a clear statement of purpose and concluding with standard sign-offs. Cohesive devices are used to signal progression, such as 'Firstly', 'Furthermore', and 'Finally'. However, referencing and logical transitions are occasionally mechanical or slightly awkward, such as transitioning from personal family cooking to restaurant work. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to divide the introduction, enjoyed aspects, cooking frequency and future application, suggestion, and conclusion. Overall arrangement is coherent, though cohesion can be improved for better flow and smoother transitions between ideas.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student attempts a range of vocabulary suitable for a general task, including terms like 'techniques', 'fascinating', 'challenging', and 'management'. However, there are numerous noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, such as 'tihis' instead of 'this', 'vegitables' instead of 'vegetables', 'enoyed' instead of 'enjoyed', 'cusines' instead of 'cuisines', 'mater' instead of 'master', 'firends' instead of 'friends', 'erery' instead of 'every', 'traning' instead of 'training', 'resturant' instead of 'restaurant', 'smothly' instead of 'smoothly', and 'becaue' instead of 'because'. These frequent errors reflect a Band 5 level, as they occasionally strain the reader, though the overall meaning remains clear.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as using relative clauses ('skills and techniques which other participants as well me enjoy'). However, grammatical accuracy is weak, featuring multiple errors such as 'I am writing you to share' instead of 'writing to you', 'did from your school' instead of 'took at your school', 'their are numerous' instead of 'there are numerous', and 'participants as well me enjoy' instead of 'I enjoyed'. Subject-verb agreement and preposition use are problematic ('this enhance' instead of 'this enhances', 'in family' instead of 'in my family'). These frequent errors place the grammar firmly in the Band 5 category.

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

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