Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-08-05

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

A museum near your home is looking for people to do part-time voluntary/unpaid work. You would like to do some voluntary/unpaid work at the museum. Write a letter to the museum director to apply for the voluntary/unpaid work. In your letter

• explain why you want to do voluntary/unpaid work at the museum
• describe some skills and qualities you have that would be useful
• give details of when you would be available for work

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Student answer (Band 6.5)

Dear Sir/Madam,

I hope you are doing well. I am expressing an interest to be employed as an volunteer at the museum.

To begin with, the main reason is, I have been residing nearby since my birth which allowed me to know about this museum already. Apart from this, being an software engineer I do work from home which restricts me to follow sedentary lifestyle so why would I not contribute to museum by sharing my knowledge to visitors. Ultimately, this aids me to rejuvenate and to break monotonous lifestyle.

When it comes to the qualities which I have is politeness, helpful and welcoming nature welcome tourists in well respective manner. On top of this, the organisational skills and keep the property safe by following a safety measures also assist management tension free.

However, I am employed as an full time employee at Walmart. As a result of this, I can only cater this responsibilities on weekends.

Yours Sincerely,

Local Resident- Binay.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The letter addresses all three bullet points: the motivation for volunteering, the relevant skills, and the availability. However, the development of these points is somewhat uneven. The explanation of why you want to volunteer is clear, but the description of your skills is slightly disjointed. For example, the phrase 'keep the property safe by following a safety measures' is a bit vague and could be more specific to a museum setting. Additionally, the tone is generally appropriate for a formal application, though some phrasing is slightly informal or awkward, such as 'why would I not contribute'. Overall, the task is fulfilled, but more precise elaboration would improve the quality of the response.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The letter is logically organized into paragraphs, each focusing on a specific requirement of the prompt. You use some cohesive devices like 'To begin with', 'Apart from this', and 'On top of this' to transition between ideas. However, some of these transitions feel a bit mechanical or forced. The flow between sentences within paragraphs could be smoother; for instance, the transition from your job as a software engineer to the desire to volunteer is slightly abrupt. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the different sections of the letter, which helps the reader follow your argument easily.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'rejuvenate', 'monotonous', and 'organisational skills'. However, there are several instances of awkward word choice and collocation errors. For example, 'expressing an interest to be employed as an volunteer' is slightly unnatural; 'applying for a volunteer position' would be more standard. You also have some grammatical-lexical slips, such as 'in well respective manner' instead of 'in a respectful manner'. While these errors do not impede communication, they prevent the response from reaching a higher band score. Expanding your vocabulary to include more precise professional collocations would be beneficial.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors throughout the text, such as 'being an software engineer' (should be 'a software engineer'), 'restricts me to follow' (should be 'restricts me from following'), and 'cater this responsibilities' (should be 'cater to these responsibilities'). While these errors are noticeable, they do not prevent the reader from understanding your message. To improve, focus on article usage (a/an) and subject-verb agreement. Increasing the variety of complex sentence structures while ensuring accuracy would help elevate your score in this criterion.

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

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