Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-08-06
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 Ruchit,
How are you doing my friend? I am happy to recieved your letter and you want some information from my side. Firstly, I visited Brampton Camping firewood in last month, it was amazing experience for me. I know you liked lights and live dancing performance, interesting news is that they have all facility for the people who lived there, so you will definetly enjoy this moments.
There are some demerits like because it has in coutry side, we were suffering from water issues, food, havy rain in the night. But I can give you some instruction, you can carry your own water jug and some snack for 2 days so it will easy for you.
We also not meet each other for long time, I thought I will be join you second time. Are you available next month? Let me know we will plan together.
We do fun together, I am exited to see you soon in camping.
Your lovingly,
Shruti.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
You have addressed all three bullet points in the prompt: explaining why your friend would enjoy camping, describing disadvantages, and expressing interest in joining them. The tone is appropriate for a letter to a friend. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. For example, the explanation of why your friend would enjoy it is brief, and the description of disadvantages could be more detailed to fully satisfy the task requirements. While you have covered the necessary points, expanding on your personal experiences or providing more specific advice would help you achieve a higher band score.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The letter is organised into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow your ideas. You use some basic cohesive devices like 'Firstly' and 'But' to connect sentences. However, the flow between sentences is sometimes mechanical, and the logical progression is occasionally interrupted by grammatical errors that make the meaning slightly harder to follow. For instance, the transition between the benefits and the disadvantages could be smoother. To improve, try using a wider variety of linking words and ensure that your referencing (e.g., 'it', 'they') clearly points to the intended noun.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
You have an adequate range of vocabulary to communicate your message, such as 'demerits', 'facility', and 'country side'. However, there are several instances of awkward word choice and collocation errors, such as 'I am happy to recieved' (should be 'receive') and 'I thought I will be join you' (should be 'I would like to join you'). Some phrases are also slightly unnatural, like 'I know you liked lights'. To reach a higher band, focus on using more precise vocabulary and ensuring that your word forms and collocations are accurate.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
You use a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Common issues include verb tense inconsistencies ('I visited... it was', 'we were suffering', 'I thought I will be join'), subject-verb agreement, and missing articles. For example, 'it has in coutry side' is grammatically incorrect and should be 'it is in the countryside'. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to affect the clarity of your writing. Focusing on basic sentence construction and tense consistency will significantly improve your score.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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