Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-03

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 Mansi,

I hope you are doing well, it has been really long time to meet each other. It is lovely to hear that you are going on camping holiday for the first time ever. I would love to give you some important tips for your trip.

To begin with, I would recommend everybody to have an experience of camping holiday at least one time in the life. I have been on a camping site at Tobermory with my family. Firstly, a camping site is situated near the river, which enhances the beauty of the property. Furthermore, you will listen bird chirping in the morning, which you would enjoy the most. Secondly, a small trail passes near the river, where you can relax for sometime and feel cold breeze passing on your face.

However, some of the disadvantages of camping holiday should not be ignored. You need to be more carefu

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response addresses the first two bullet points, explaining why the friend would enjoy camping and mentioning disadvantages. However, the letter is incomplete as it cuts off abruptly at the end of the second paragraph. Consequently, the third bullet point regarding whether you would like to go camping with your friend is entirely missing. Because the task is not fully addressed due to the incomplete nature of the response, it cannot reach a higher band. To improve, ensure you allocate enough time to cover all three required points in the prompt before finishing.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter uses basic cohesive devices such as 'To begin with', 'Firstly', 'Furthermore', and 'However' to link ideas. Paragraphing is attempted, but the abrupt ending disrupts the logical flow of the letter. The progression of ideas is generally clear in the first two paragraphs, but the lack of a concluding section or a final paragraph makes the overall structure feel unfinished. To improve, ensure that each paragraph is fully developed and that the letter concludes with a natural sign-off, which is standard for this type of correspondence.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks variety and precision. Phrases like 'really long time to meet each other' and 'have an experience of camping holiday' are slightly unnatural. There are some simple collocations used correctly, such as 'bird chirping' and 'cold breeze'. However, the range is limited, and the language does not demonstrate the flexibility required for higher bands. To improve, focus on using more natural collocations and varied descriptive language to convey your thoughts more effectively.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'it has been really long time to meet each other' (missing article) and 'listen bird chirping' (should be 'listen to the birds chirping'). Additionally, 'feel cold breeze passing on your face' is slightly awkward. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to affect the overall fluency. Focusing on article usage and prepositional phrases would help improve the accuracy of your writing.

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

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