Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-08-10

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 5.0)

Dear sir,

I hope you are doing well! I want to apply for job in your museum as a voluntary. I want to get more experience by doing work voluntary and also I think if I work as a voluntary then I can get love from other people by helping them and also I will feel happy because I am a helping person. Moreover, I am a confident and calm person which are more needed to work as a voluntary and also I know how to deal with other people because I have customer service experience as before I work in a Tim Horton and I did my job very well. But now I want to work as a voluntary. I want to start work as possible as. Because I am from Wednesday to Saturday. Please reply my mail.

Thank you

Sincerely

Arshpreet Kaur

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response addresses all three bullet points: the reason for volunteering, relevant skills, and availability. However, the development of these ideas is quite limited and repetitive. The explanation for wanting to volunteer focuses heavily on personal feelings rather than an interest in the museum itself. Furthermore, the response is under the 150-word minimum, which negatively impacts the score. To improve, you should expand on your interest in history or art and provide more specific details about your availability, such as specific time slots, to ensure the letter is fully developed and meets the length requirement.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter follows a basic structure, but the lack of paragraphing makes it difficult to read. While there are some attempts at cohesive devices like 'Moreover' and 'But now', the flow is often interrupted by awkward phrasing and run-on sentences. The progression of ideas is somewhat mechanical, and the lack of clear separation between the introduction, body, and conclusion hinders the overall coherence. Using clear paragraph breaks for each bullet point would significantly improve the logical flow and readability of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is quite basic and repetitive, particularly the frequent use of 'voluntary' as a noun instead of 'volunteer'. Phrases like 'get love from other people' and 'I am a helping person' are unnatural and lack the professional tone required for a formal application letter. There is little evidence of less common lexical items or precise collocations. To reach a higher band, you should focus on learning professional vocabulary related to employment and volunteering, and ensure you use the correct word forms (e.g., 'volunteer' as a person, 'voluntary' as an adjective).

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response contains a mix of simple and some attempted complex structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors. Issues include incorrect word order ('as before I work in a Tim Horton'), missing articles, and awkward sentence construction ('I want to start work as possible as'). Subject-verb agreement and tense consistency are also problematic. While the meaning is generally clear, these errors occur frequently enough to cause some difficulty for the reader. Focusing on basic sentence structure and proofreading for common errors like verb tense would help improve your accuracy.

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

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