Band 7.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-17

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 7.5)

Dear Sir or Madam,

I hope this message finds you well. The purpose of my writing today is to express my interest to apply for the volunteer part-time positions mentioned in the advertisement posted on your website.

I am quite keen to participate in this role to gain more experience that would help me to improve my employabitily and polish my resume. Apart from that, because of my college break, I am mostly free that I really want to utilize it efficiently.

I have great communication and leadership skills, which I believe would be useful for this role. Additionally, I can perform very well as a team member because of my reliability and cooperation with my other co-workers.

I would be completely available to work during the evening from Saturday to Thursday. However, on Monday, I could do mornings. I hope this availability would work for you.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

Yours sincerely,

Gurkirat Kaur

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 8.0

The response fully satisfies all parts of the task requirements. The student successfully adopts an appropriate formal letter tone to address the museum director, starting with the requested salutation 'Dear Sir or Madam,'. For the first bullet point, the writer clearly explains the motivation for volunteering, mentioning the desire to gain experience, improve employability, and make good use of college break time. For the second bullet point, relevant skills and qualities such as communication, leadership, reliability, and cooperation are effectively described. Finally, the third bullet point provides precise details of work availability, specifying evening hours from Saturday to Thursday and morning hours on Monday. All bullet points are fully and clearly developed, and the length requirement is comfortably met. Therefore, a high band score is well deserved for this criterion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.5

The letter exhibits a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. Ideas are grouped into appropriate paragraphs, with each paragraph serving a distinct function corresponding to the letter prompts. For instance, the second paragraph addresses the motivation for volunteering, the third details skills and qualities, and the fourth outlines availability. Cohesive devices are used adequately and logically, such as 'Apart from that', 'Additionally', and 'However'. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, maintaining a standard formal business letter layout from the opening salutation to the sign-off 'Yours sincerely, Gurkirat Kaur'. Referencing and linking are clear, resulting in a cohesive piece of writing that is easy to follow from start to finish.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

The student demonstrates an adequate to good range of vocabulary appropriate for a formal application letter. Phrases such as 'express my interest', 'utilize it efficiently', and 'leadership skills' are used effectively. However, there is a minor spelling error in 'employabitily' (employability), and the expression 'The purpose of my writing today is' is slightly unnatural and wordy compared to standard formal openings like 'I am writing to express my interest'. Despite occasional word-choice inaccuracies and the spelling slip, the vocabulary used is sufficient to convey the message clearly and shows an attempt at incorporating less common lexical items suitable for the context, fitting comfortably into the band 6.5 or 7 range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 7.0

The writing contains a good mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating control over sentence structures. Examples of successful complex structures include clauses introduced by relative pronouns, such as 'experience that would help me to improve' and 'skills, which I believe would be useful'. Grammar and punctuation are generally well-managed, and the majority of sentences are grammatically sound. While there is a minor awkwardness in 'the volunteer part-time positions mentioned' (where word order could be 'the part-time volunteer positions') and a slight redundancy in 'mostly free that I really want to', these errors do not impede communication at all. The control of tense and modal verbs (such as 'would be') is handled well throughout the letter.

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

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