Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-19
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 Paramjit,
I hope you are doing well. I am writing to give you advice about learning a new sport.
I would like to recommend a new sport for you is Wrestling. Because we both are Physiotherapist's and you had complete you major in Sports. I believe it is suitable for you. Because you are working with athletes and many teams.
Furthermore you have plenty of knowledge about sports and you know if any injury or anything is happened how we can get rid of that. How can we cure with physiotherpy sessions. In addition, you are dealing with big sportsman and meet their coaches. Ask for references or otherwise we can learn from them if anyone is specialist. Otherwise we can contact our sports team sir they can help you.
I think I can join you. Because i also have interest in this. I believe you need a company also. It will be valuable for you and we got a another chance for meeting. I am very excited.
Yours lovingly,
Rajandeep Kaur
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The response successfully covers all bullet points required by the prompt. You recommend a specific sport (wrestling), explain how your friend could learn it by leveraging professional contacts and coaches, and suggest learning it together. The tone is appropriately friendly and personal. However, some ideas are slightly repetitive, particularly when discussing how your friend's background in physiotherapy and sports connects to the recommendation. To reach a higher band, ideas should be expanded with greater clarity and less repetition. Nonetheless, all parts of the task are adequately addressed, earning a solid score for task fulfillment.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The email has a recognizable overall structure with a standard greeting and sign-off, but the paragraphing and logical sequencing within the body are somewhat disjointed. Sentences are often broken up abruptly, such as starting multiple sentences with 'Because' or 'Otherwise', which disrupts the natural flow of ideas. Cohesive devices are occasionally used mechanically or inaccurately, such as repetitive transitions like 'Furthermore', 'In addition', and 'Otherwise'. Paragraphing could be improved by grouping related thoughts together—such as the recommendation and the reasons behind it in one paragraph, and the learning methods and joint participation in another—to create a clearer progression.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task, with some attempts at subject-specific terminology like 'physiotherapist', 'athletes', and 'references'. However, there are notable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'complete you major' instead of 'completed your major', and 'sports team sir' which is unnatural. Spelling and grammatical word forms also show minor issues, such as the incorrect apostrophe in 'Physiotherapist's'. While the range is sufficient to communicate the core message, frequent inaccuracies prevent the vocabulary from achieving a higher band.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The writing demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but control over grammar is inconsistent. There are several noticeable grammatical errors throughout the text, including sentence fragments and punctuation issues, such as starting sentences with 'Because' followed by a period ('I believe it is suitable for you. Because you are working with athletes...'). Other errors include verb tense mismatches like 'you had complete you major'. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to lower the accuracy score, restricting the response to a Band 5.5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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