Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-09

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 or Madam,

I am writing to express my interest in the voluntary work at your museum, which is part-time and unpaid.

Firstly, I would like to attend museum with voluntary work as it will assist me in gaining extra curriculum experience. Although it will be an unpaid work, I am willing to spend few hours on weekends.

During my school, I have attended several community events. Therefore, I gained experience of managing huge crowd and improved my communication skills, which can be beneficial for the museum. Overall, it will be a great opportunity for me to use my qualities and skills for charity work.

During the week, I have my college and would not be able to visit the museum. However, I am free on weekends and available to work for 5-6 hours. I can use my leisure time in serving the museum, which will help me in gaining more experience.

I look forward to hearing for you.

Yours sincerely,

John

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The letter addresses all three bullet points of the prompt: the motivation for volunteering, relevant skills, and availability. The tone is appropriate for a formal application. However, the development of ideas is somewhat basic. For instance, the explanation of why you want to volunteer is a bit repetitive, focusing on 'gaining experience' twice. To reach a higher band, you could expand on your personal interest in the museum's specific exhibits or history to show more genuine engagement. The structure is clear, and the purpose of the letter is immediately evident to the reader.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The letter is logically organized into distinct paragraphs, each focusing on a specific requirement of the task. The use of cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Therefore', and 'However' helps the reader follow the progression of your ideas. While the paragraphing is appropriate, some transitions feel slightly mechanical. For example, the link between your school experience and the museum work could be smoother. Overall, the information is presented in a coherent manner, and the letter follows a standard formal structure, which makes it easy to follow.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You use a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey your message clearly. Phrases like 'express my interest' and 'community events' are used correctly. However, there are some minor inaccuracies and awkward collocations, such as 'attend museum with voluntary work' (should be 'volunteer at the museum') and 'gaining extra curriculum experience' (should be 'extracurricular experience'). The vocabulary is generally functional but lacks the precision and variety required for higher bands. Focusing on more natural collocations and avoiding repetitive phrasing would improve your score in this area.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The letter contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is always clear, there are several grammatical slips. For example, 'I have my college' is unnatural (should be 'I am at college'), and 'hearing for you' should be 'hearing from you'. There are also minor errors with articles, such as 'spend few hours' (should be 'a few hours'). Despite these errors, your control of grammar is generally good, and the mistakes do not impede communication. Increasing the variety of complex sentence structures while ensuring accuracy would help you progress.

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

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