Hi, I am not an expert in IELTS writing and have started preparation this week only and had written hardly one or two essays. I have even posted my first ever written essay here for evaluation. I think this group has gone slow these days. Although I am new to IELTS and this forum, it is my sincere effort to help my fellow members with the knowledge that I have.
Below is my feedback on the essay. This is my first attempt so excuse me if I am wrong with my feedback.
Question:Many people say that cooking and eating at home is better for the individual and the family than eating out in restaurants or canteens.
Do you agree or disagree?
Food is one of the fundamental human need. Majority of the populace agrees that home made ( homemade) cuisines are better than buying outside. I strongly support this view because home made (repetitive and again spelling error) foods are safer , nutritionally richer and cooking skills could be transferred to the children. ( You are probably lacking here in Task Achievement- you said about cooking but not about eating, and also you forgot to mention individual and families)
Home made(repetitive and again spelling error delicacies are (avoid generalizations here) safer and nutritionally richer( You need to start this with cohesive phrases such as : A good reason to support homemade delicacies is that they are generally safer and nutritionally rich)This is because the hygienic conditions under which the food is prepared can be ascertained (I don't know, sound a bit absurd to me) and the chances of getting an (Grammar) infection from food contamination will be reduced. Also, food item such as vegetable can be prepared ensuring (prepared is usually followed by to-infinitive so replace ensuring with to ensure) the nutritional contents are preserved when cooked in the home. ( You haven't fully developed the topic sentence. You've only mentioned why it is safer and nutritional. you need to further explain and support your view with examples)
Furthermore, making food at home helps(avoid generalizations here) transfer cooking skills to the children because the parent could show them how each item is made. This ensures the (Grammar) preservation of the family culture and independence of the children in the process(what??). For instance, a youth(you stated children in the topic sentence and the example doesn't seem to fit in this context) at the university living in the hostel could easily prepare food without resulting to (without having to)- resulting in buying food daily if trained in the home previously.(in the first place), Again you are all about making food and not about eating it, you haven't mentioned anything about going out and eating in the restaurants).
To conclude, cuisines are important in the safety, health,development and life span of an individual.(don't introduce any ideas(development, lifespan) here and it doesn't seem to answer the question) I will (would) like to reiterate that home made foods are better than purchasing them out because they are safer ,nutritionally richer and the skill could be transferred to the whole family. ( Again you haven't fully addressed the task)
Comments:
TASK ACHIEVEMENT: ( your essay is very short- 210 words, means you lose at least 1 bands here and you haven't addressed the task completely. Maybe you could write one paragraph explaining why you agree that eating and cooking at home is better for INDIVIDUALS than eating out in the restaurants and another paragraph explaining the same for FAMILIES.) In this way, you could easily cover main ideas: COOKING, EATING, HOME, INDIVIDUALS, FAMILIES, OUTSIDE)- Band 5 for Task Achievement.
COHERENCE AND COHESION: You have used few cohesive devices such as Also, Furthermore, For instance, to conclude) and few referencing ( This is because, This ensures) but your supporting doesn't always strike back to the topic sentence). You have stated your opinion clearly in the introduction and by seeing each body paragraph one can estimate what you are about to talk. You could make your supporting points more coherent by further explaining and linking it back to the topic sentence.)- a bit of practice might get you 7, but for now it's 6 for me.
LEXICAL RESOURCES: you have repeated the words safer, richer, homemade, nutritionally etc. multiple times. However, there are few uncommon words such as cuisines, delicacies, contamination, nutritional contents) but these are not enough. Use more topic related vocabulary. For me, it's a 6.
GRAMMATICAL RANGE AND ACCURACY: You haven't written sufficient complex sentences. There are few sentences with coordinating conjunction but none with subordinating conjunction. You need to use some conditional sentences. You need to use defining and non-defining relative clauses and also consider using all the three tenses in your essay. Also, the majority of the complex sentence contains error. so for me, it's a 5.5
OVERALL: 5 to 5.5 ( If there were 250+ words, you could possibly get 6 for this essay)
Don't feel disheartened or panicked. You could really improve if you put a little bit of hard work on your essays.
GUYS, let's help each other to get our desired band scores. Let's check each other's essay and give feedback.