Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-15

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 / Madam,

I hope you are doing great, that you are enjoying your summer so far! There was a advertisement posted on newspaper that your are looking for people for part time job.

I would like to apply for part time voluntary job at your meseum as it is going to increase my working hours and i will make some good contacts.

I am very good in a communication. In addition, I knew three diiferent languages that are english, hindi and gujarati. It might be helpful to different people who comes from different countries. Also i am very punctual about timing and doing task efficiently with proper time management.

However, currently i am on my summer vacation and my next semester will start after two months. So i have plenty of time to do part time/unpaid work. Which gives me benefits to learn new skills and it will potentially increase my working experience.

Here i am attaching my resume and waiting for your positive responce.

Yours faithfully,

Mayank

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The candidate has addressed all parts of the task prompt successfully. The letter opens with an explanation of why the writer wants to do voluntary work at the museum, specifically mentioning motivations like gaining working hours and making good contacts, although these are somewhat transactional rather than community-focused. The second bullet point is covered by detailing skills and qualities, noting that the writer is good at communication and speaks three languages (English, Hindi, and Gujarati), which would be useful for international visitors, alongside punctuality and time management. Finally, the third bullet point is handled by stating availability due to being on summer vacation for the next two months. The tone is appropriate for a formal letter, and all three bullet points from the prompt are clearly identifiable in the text, ensuring a solid completion of the task requirements.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter exhibits a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt to structure the information logically into separate paragraphs corresponding to different points of the prompt. However, paragraphing and referencing are occasionally faulty. The opening section is split awkwardly across sentences that do not flow smoothly together, and cohesive devices are at times basic or mechanical. For instance, the transition 'However, currently i am on my summer vacation' uses 'However' inappropriately, as there is no contrasting idea preceding it. While referencing is generally understandable, the flow between ideas is occasionally disjointed. Paragraphing is used to separate ideas, but the logical progression within paragraphs could be tightened to achieve a higher band score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, demonstrating a mix of common and some less common items such as 'voluntary job', 'time management', and 'punctuated about timing'. However, there are notable lexical errors and inappropriate word choices, such as spelling 'museum' as 'meseum', writing 'a communication' instead of 'communication', and misspelling 'advertisement' in the opening draft. Phrasing such as 'Which gives me benefits to learn new skills' is grammatically awkward and lacks natural collocation. The range is sufficient to convey the message clearly, but frequent slips in spelling, word formation, and collocation restrict the lexical score to the mid-band level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as relative clauses ('that are english, hindi and gujarati') and temporal clauses. However, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('your are looking', 'people who comes'), capitalization errors ('english, hindi and gujarati'), and incorrect articles ('a advertisement', 'a communication'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with comma splices and lowercase letters at the start of sentences ('Also i am'). Although the meaning remains understandable despite these errors, the high frequency of grammatical and mechanical inaccuracies prevents the writing from reaching the Band 6 threshold.

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

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