Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-03

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 summit kumar

I am writing this latter to inform you that I am very excited for your upcoming camping trip because, you are going for camping finally for the first time and summer is the best time for the camping.There are so many places where you can go close to our city .

I strongly believe that.It is going to the best experience of your life .I know you love nature as you always told me when we were in the school.

However, there are few things that I would like to tell you before you go for your camping shopping.do not forgot to buy a good quality waterproof tent and a small knife .These are two things I missed when I did my camping because,of that water ended up coming in my tent ,so make sure you do not make the same mistake that I did.

I would like to join you for the camping but I am very sad to tell you that, I am very busy in my office work and next month I am going out of country for one project .I hope you will understand my situation.I will wait for you to come back and tell me all the fun stories.

Thanks

Arjun kumar

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, but the development of ideas remains limited and under-developed. While you mention why your friend would enjoy camping, such as your shared love of nature, the explanation lacks depth. You describe potential disadvantages like water getting into the tent, and you successfully state that you cannot join this summer due to work commitments. However, the overall treatment of the bullet points feels somewhat restricted and fails to fully expand on the points raised. To move to a higher level, you need to extend your ideas with more detail and clearer elaboration for each part of the prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The letter exhibits some organisation, but there is no clear overall progression of ideas. You have attempted paragraphing, but the links between sentences and paragraphs can feel mechanical and repetitive, using simple connectors like 'However' and 'and'. Referencing is sometimes unclear, and the overall logical flow of the text is hindered by abrupt transitions between topics, such as jumping straight from camping equipment advice to declining the invitation. To improve cohesion, you should work on using a wider variety of cohesive devices more accurately and ensure smoother logical links between your paragraphs.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate for the task. You attempt some topic-related vocabulary like 'waterproof tent' and 'camping shopping', but there are noticeable errors in word form, spelling, and word choice, such as writing 'latter' instead of 'letter' and 'forgot' instead of 'forget'. These inaccuracies occasionally cause minor difficulty for the reader. To achieve a higher score, you should aim to use a broader range of less common lexical items with greater precision, while paying closer attention to accurate spelling and natural word combinations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

Your writing displays a limited range of structures, relying mostly on simple sentences, while attempts at complex sentences often contain faults, such as in the sentence starting with 'because, you are going for camping finally'. There are frequent errors in punctuation, capitalization, and comma placement, alongside run-on structures and awkward phrasing like 'busy in my office work'. These recurring grammatical errors can cause some difficulty for the reader. To progress, you need to practice forming more complex sentence structures accurately and improve your control over basic punctuation and sentence boundaries.

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

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