Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-11-08

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

Your English-speaking friend who lives in your town has asked for your advice about learning a new sport. Write an email to your friend. In your email:

• recommend a new sport that would be suitable for your friend to learn
• explain how your friend could learn this sport
• suggest that you both learn this sport together

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

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

 

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear Hamza,

I am writing this letter to recommend you to a new sport that i think will play a good part in your life. In my opinion, you should go for football as this game focuses on full body and it will also improve your endurance. You can learn football on the Gymkhana near our school which is located on Minara Road.

We will both learn together which will not only help us improve our health but also become a fun part of our life. I will wait for your response.

Yours sincerely,

X-Y-Z

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You address the main points by recommending football, giving a place to learn it, and inviting your friend to learn with you. The reasons that it will improve endurance and make a fun shared activity are relevant, but they are only briefly stated; for example, you could explain why football suits Hamza or what a beginner would practise. The learning advice is also limited to naming the Gymkhana, without details such as joining a beginner class or practising basic skills. The response is 55 words below the required minimum, which leaves too little space to develop these ideas and makes the email feel incomplete. Add practical details and a fuller, friendly closing.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The email has a clear overall order: you introduce your recommendation, give a reason and location, then suggest learning together and close. This makes the message easy to follow. The greeting and sign-off also suit the email format. However, the body is very brief and presented as one block, so the ideas do not develop into distinct stages. The link between the recommendation and the learning plan could be clearer, and “We will both learn together” repeats the idea of learning without adding much progression. Use a separate paragraph for the practical learning details and connect the benefits to your invitation with a clear transition.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is adequate for communicating the basic recommendation, with relevant terms such as “football,” “endurance,” “improve our health,” and “response.” These choices make the topic clear, but the range is narrow and some expressions are not natural in this context. “Recommend you to a new sport” is an awkward collocation, while “go for football” and “a fun part of our life” are broad or imprecise. More specific language about learning and playing would make the advice more convincing, such as “join a beginner’s class,” “practise passing,” or “build stamina.” Aim for natural collocations rather than simply adding more advanced words.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple sentences and a longer clause, as in “You should go for football as this game focuses on full body and it will also improve your endurance.” The message remains understandable, and the sentence forms are generally controlled. Some errors remain: the pronoun “i” should be capitalised, and “recommend you to a new sport” has an incorrect grammatical pattern; use “recommend a sport to you” or “recommend that you try a sport.” The sentence joining the sport’s focus and its benefit would also be clearer with more controlled punctuation or a conjunction. To strengthen your range, include a few accurate complex sentences explaining how a beginner could learn and why the sport would suit your friend.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.