Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-11-09

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

A friend of yours is thinking of going on a camping holiday for the first time this summer. He/She has asked for your advice. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter

• explain why you think your friend would enjoy a camping holiday
• describe some possible disadvantages
• say whether you would like to go camping with your friend this summer

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear ................. ,

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear Jenny,

Hope you are doing great and work is going well too.i want to tell you about the upcoming Holiday camping and i i'ld love you to be involved bacause you are going to have a swell time there with so much fun .

The camp will be at the famous obudu cattle ranch and you will be required to spend a couple of days there,in as much ,it's promised to be exciting ,im sad to tell you that there will a lot insect bites,especially mosquitoes and rooms will be cold since you will be using a hall,so it's of your best interest to have your protective wears with you.

However,i il be joining you for this camp,because i want it to be memorable and catch up with our old gist. See you soon!

With love,

maureen.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address the three requested points: you give a reason Jenny may enjoy the trip (“so much fun”), mention disadvantages such as mosquitoes and cold accommodation, and say you will join her. However, the enjoyment point is only briefly stated, and the disadvantages are more specific than the benefits, so the ideas are not developed evenly. The opening also sounds as though you are announcing a camp rather than clearly advising a friend who is considering one. The response is 12 words below the required minimum, which limits the space available to explain your advice and support your points. Add practical detail—for example, what activities or scenery she might enjoy—and clarify why the drawbacks are manageable.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter has a recognisable sequence: greeting, discussion of the camp and its drawbacks, your decision to join, and a friendly sign-off. “However” helps signal a shift to your own plans, and the overall message is understandable. At times, though, several ideas are crowded into one paragraph and long sentence, particularly the sentence beginning “The camp will be at…”; this makes the contrast between the enjoyable aspects and the disadvantages less clear. The link “in as much” is not used effectively to express the intended contrast. Separate the benefits, drawbacks, and your decision into clearer units, and use straightforward links such as “although” or “on the other hand” to guide the reader.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “camping,” “mosquitoes,” “protective wears,” and “memorable,” and the reader can generally understand your meaning. There are also attempts at more expressive, informal language, such as “swell time” and “old gist,” which suit a friendly letter in principle. However, several choices are inaccurate or unnatural, including “upcoming Holiday camping,” “protective wears,” and “old gist”; spelling and apostrophe errors such as “bacause” and “i'ld” also reduce control. Aim for familiar, precise expressions rather than unusual phrases whose meaning may be unclear. For example, describe the trip as a “camping holiday,” recommend “protective clothing,” and say you want to “catch up on old times.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more extended sentence forms, including a sentence that contrasts the excitement of the trip with its drawbacks. However, control is inconsistent, and errors sometimes make the reader pause. Examples include “there will a lot insect bites,” which needs a verb and an article, and “rooms will be cold since you will be using a hall,” where the relationship between the accommodation and the hall is unclear. The long sentence beginning “The camp will be at…” also has faulty punctuation and clause connections. Capitalisation and sentence boundaries are inconsistent, as in “too.i” and “However,i.” Practise building accurate sentences with one main idea at a time, then check articles, verb forms, and punctuation before adding complex clauses.

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

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