Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-08-28
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 5.5)
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing this letter regarding to apply in voluntary work at the museum.
To begin with, I love to do unpaid work as it is the way to help others and provide kindness to the world. Moreover, it also help me to connect with new people so, i can connect with new folks which help me to widden my horrizon.
As i am wokrking as a manager in retail store due to that i have management skills , active listener, knows how to handle different sitatutions. I believe , in Museum i will meet different people who have different inquaries which i can solve with my skills. Apart from this, iam very good at sales.
Moreover, my availbility is from Monday to Saturday from 10 am to 4pm.
Your faithfully
Anmol Bansal
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The letter addresses all three bullet points: the reason for volunteering, relevant skills, and availability. However, the response is under the 150-word minimum, which limits the development of ideas. For example, the explanation of why you want to volunteer is quite brief and could be expanded to show more personal motivation. Similarly, while you mention your retail experience, providing a specific example of how you handled a difficult customer would have strengthened the response. Because the response is under-length, it does not fully satisfy the requirements of the task.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The letter follows a logical structure with a clear opening and closing. You use basic cohesive devices such as 'To begin with', 'Moreover', and 'Apart from this' to link your ideas. However, the paragraphing is somewhat disjointed, and the flow between sentences is occasionally interrupted by grammatical errors. The use of referencing is sometimes unclear, such as in the second paragraph where the repetition of 'connect with' makes the sentence feel mechanical. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring smoother transitions between your skills and your motivation would improve the coherence of the letter.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks variety and precision. There are several spelling errors, such as 'widden', 'horrizon', 'wokrking', 'sitatutions', 'inquaries', and 'availbility'. These errors are frequent enough to be noticeable. You rely on simple phrases like 'help others' and 'good at sales'. To reach a higher band, you should aim to use more precise collocations and ensure accurate spelling. For instance, instead of 'provide kindness', a more natural expression would be 'contribute to the community'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that affect clarity. Examples include 'regarding to apply in voluntary work' (incorrect preposition and verb form), 'it also help me' (subject-verb agreement error), and 'i can connect with new folks' (informal word choice). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with comma placement and the capitalization of 'i'. While the meaning is generally understandable, the high frequency of errors in basic sentence construction prevents a higher score.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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