Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-29

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

A friend of yours is thinking about applying for the same course that you did at university. He/She has asked for your advice about studying this subject. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter

• give details of the course you took at the university
• explain why you recommend the university
• give some advice about how to apply

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear .................. ,

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear john,

I hope you are doing well, I am mainly writing to give you some advice on health care administration course at university of Toronto as the same course I did at this institution.

This is wonderfull program focusing on administration needs specifically in health care sector I found this program quite interesting due to its continous demand in the market. Moreover, In this job field it has very competetive salary as compared to other admin sectors.

I am personally want to reccomend you this University because of its highly knowledgable professors and the way the teach However, It has less tuition fees than the othe private college because its government funded and u may qualify for scholarship. they do offer placements with many well known institutions

with numerous career opportunities in every health care facilities

thank you,

kind regards

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response covers all three bullet points from the prompt, as you mention the health care administration course at the University of Toronto, recommend the institution due to knowledgeable professors and lower tuition fees, and give advice about scholarships and placements. However, the task achievement is constrained because the response is under the required 150-word minimum, containing only 141 words. Furthermore, the advice about how to apply is somewhat brief and underdeveloped, focusing more on funding and placements than the application process itself. To achieve a higher band score, you must ensure that you meet the word count requirement fully and extend your ideas for each prompt requirement.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

Your letter has a discernible structure, opening with an appropriate salutation and closing. However, paragraphing is poorly managed; the main body of the letter is condensed into two dense blocks that lack clear separation of ideas. While you use cohesive devices like 'Moreover' and 'However', punctuation errors (such as comma splices like 'I hope you are doing well, I am mainly writing...') disrupt the flow. Referencing is sometimes unclear, and the overall progression could be smoother. To improve, you should separate distinct points—such as course details, reasons for recommendation, and application/funding advice—into well-defined paragraphs.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items related to education and employment, such as 'administration', 'sector', 'competetive', and 'placements'. However, there are notable spelling errors ('wonderfull', 'continous', 'competetive', 'reccomend', 'knowledgable') and word choice inaccuracies (e.g., 'less tuition fees' instead of 'lower tuition fees'). These lexical errors are noticeable and detract from the quality of the writing, though they do not completely impede communication. Expanding your control of word forms and proofreading carefully will help elevate this score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The text shows a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control over grammar and punctuation is weak. There are several run-on sentences and comma splices, such as 'However, It has less tuition fees than the othe private college because its government funded and u may qualify for scholarship.' Capitalisation is also inconsistent, with lowercase letters starting sentences ('with numerous career opportunities') and names ('john'). While meaning is generally recoverable, the frequent punctuation and structural errors mean that error-free sentences are in the minority. Working on sentence boundaries and basic grammatical rules will yield immediate improvements.

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

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