Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-16

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 to give a feedback regarding a short cookery course that i i had done few days ago.

To begin with, there are a lot of things that I enjoyed during the course. Firstly, the teacher showed great encourage and patience towards students because everyone was new and tried cooking first time, so making mistakes was obvious, but cook did not get irritated and helped everyone muliples of time. Moreover, I got a great chance to make friends here and the management was also so helping. After the classes, I am making my food by my own without any help, but sometime there are some recipes which are hard to make that time I just search on the youtube and watch the video.

I am still learing, I cannot say that I became professional after one couse, so I am looking forward to learn more and request you to announce another cookery couse so that I can join.

Thank you for you time,

Best regards,

Fateh Singh

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You address the main points by describing the patient teacher and friendly management, explaining that you now cook for yourself, and asking for another course. However, the feedback is not fully specific: “a lot of things” is general, and the final request does not identify what kind of course you would like the school to offer. The amount of cooking since the course is also unclear; “I am making my food” does not say how often or give an example. The purpose and polite tone are clear, but the ideas remain limited and under-developed. To strengthen the letter, name a particular course, such as baking or vegetarian cooking, and give concrete details about your practice and the course experience.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The letter has a recognisable structure, with an opening, a paragraph about the course and your cooking, and a closing. Sequencing words such as “To begin with,” “Firstly,” and “Moreover” help signal the points, and the reader can follow the general message. However, the middle paragraph combines several ideas—teaching, making friends, management, and cooking at home—so the progression is not always smooth. Some links are mechanical, and the shift from course feedback to your current cooking is abrupt. Use separate paragraphs for what you enjoyed, how you have cooked since, and your request for a future course. Clearer links between these sections would make the organisation more coherent.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

Your vocabulary is sufficient to communicate the basic message, with relevant terms such as “cookery course,” “recipes,” “teacher,” and “students.” You also attempt more descriptive language in “patience towards students.” However, several noticeable word-choice, word-form, and spelling errors make parts less natural or occasionally harder to understand. For example, “great encourage” and “so helping” do not express your meaning idiomatically, while “multiples of time” is unclear. Spelling errors such as “learing” and “couse” also reduce accuracy. Build a bank of natural phrases for feedback and frequency, and check spelling and word forms before submitting. More precise vocabulary would help you explain your experience and request.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use both simple sentences and longer sentences with clauses, for example the sentence explaining that the teacher helped because everyone was new. This shows some range, and the overall meaning is generally understandable. However, control is uneven, particularly in longer sentences, where punctuation and sentence boundaries are sometimes weak. There are also errors in articles, verb forms, and sentence construction: “give a feedback” and “I had done few days ago” are not correctly formed, while “After the classes, I am making my food” uses an awkward tense for an ongoing habit. The final request also needs a clearer grammatical structure. Practise accurate past-tense descriptions and present-perfect or present-simple forms for activities since the course, then proofread each sentence.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.