Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-22

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 5.0)

Dear Sir or Madam,

I would like to do part-time voluntary/unpaid work for your museum. I want to do so because this museum is a public building and I would like to improve its quality.

My skills and qualities are:

I can work more efficiently than other workers. I also have five years of experience as a janitor. If you are willing to let me do voluntary work, I will be available for work on Tuesdays and Fridays.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0

The candidate has attempted all parts of the prompt, including explaining why they want to do voluntary work, describing useful skills and qualities, and providing details of availability. However, the response is severely underdeveloped and falls well short of the 150-word minimum, containing only 78 words. For instance, the reason given ('this museum is a public building and I would like to improve its quality') is overly simplistic, and the description of skills ('I can work more efficiently than other workers. I also have five years of experience as a janitor') lacks adequate elaboration and support. Due to the under-length nature of the response and the limited development of ideas, this performance aligns with Band 4.0 descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The letter maintains a clear overall purpose, utilizing a standard formal opening ('Dear Sir or Madam,') and closing the points sequentially. However, paragraphing is poorly handled; the bullet-point style breakdown ('My skills and qualities are:') detracts from the conventional letter format expected in General Training Task 1. Cohesive devices are minimal, relying mostly on simple conjunctions ('and', 'also'), and there is a lack of cohesive progression between sentences. While the ideas are grouped logically, the overall organization is basic and mechanical, fitting the Band 5.0 descriptor level.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is basic, repetitive, and restricted to everyday terms suitable for simple communication. Examples include 'public building', 'improve its quality', and 'janitor'. There is a distinct lack of less common or idiomatic vocabulary suitable for a formal job or volunteer application letter. While the words used are generally spelled correctly and used without major errors, the overall range is quite narrow and minimally adequate for the task, which corresponds to a Band 5.0 rating.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The text demonstrates control over basic sentence structures, such as simple and compound sentences ('I would like to do part-time voluntary/unpaid work for your museum', 'I can work more efficiently than other workers'). There are no glaring grammatical errors in the limited text produced, and meaning is communicated clearly. However, there is a total absence of complex sentence forms or varied grammatical structures. Because the range is strictly limited to simple structures, the grammar aligns with Band 5.0.

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

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