Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-08-12

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 6.0)

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to express my interest to work part-time as a voluntary at your Royal museum.

To begin with, I completed my secondary graduation recently and keen to work unpaid at your museum during my three months summer vacation. To add to this, the reason to choose this job is to explore our culture and historical objects.

Moreover, I had attended plenty of exhibitions during my childhood at Royal museum. Plus, I have customer service and good communication skills. I would be more than happy to assist visitors by showing them indigenous culture, traditions and history.

Besides this, I would be available during the weekends at any time, as I heard that the museum is quite overcrowded during the weekends. Therefore, helping visitors with tour guide would be my pleasure.

I look forward to your positive response.

Kind regards,

Mike Patel

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The letter covers all three bullet points: the reason for volunteering, relevant skills, and availability. However, the response is 146 words long, failing to meet the 150-word minimum requirement. This under-length negatively impacts the task achievement score. While the ideas are relevant, they are somewhat brief and could have been expanded further to meet the length requirement and provide more depth. For instance, the explanation of why you want to volunteer is quite basic. To improve, ensure you elaborate on your points to meet the word count and provide a more comprehensive response.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The letter is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a closing. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the different requirements of the task. Cohesive devices such as 'To begin with', 'Moreover', and 'Besides this' are used to link ideas, although some transitions feel slightly mechanical. The progression of ideas is generally clear, and the reader can easily follow the purpose of the letter. To reach a higher band, focus on using a wider variety of cohesive devices and ensuring that the flow between sentences is more natural and less repetitive.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, but it lacks variety and precision. There are some errors in word choice, such as using 'voluntary' as a noun instead of 'volunteer' and 'secondary graduation' instead of 'secondary school education'. Phrases like 'explore our culture' are acceptable but basic. To improve, try to incorporate more specific vocabulary related to museum work or volunteering, and ensure that word forms are used correctly. Expanding your range of synonyms and collocations will help you achieve a higher score in this criterion.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The response uses a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'interest to work' (should be 'interest in working'), 'keen to work' (missing 'I am'), and 'helping visitors with tour guide' (should be 'as a tour guide'). While these errors do not significantly impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. To improve, focus on subject-verb agreement and the correct use of prepositions and gerunds. Proofreading for small slips in sentence construction will also help improve your accuracy.

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

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