Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-02

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 Garry,

i am extremly delighted to know about that you want to learn a new sports.

well, as far as, i know you are athletic person. You already won a significant numbers of sports in early years. I would really like to suggest into baseball.The reason behind is that you are already good in cricket and hockey then it will be suitable according to your interest.

Lastly, i think if you join this game then may be i will assist you by attending few classes with you. We both can spend some quality time together as well as stay as a fit and fiddle. Also, we can cherish our old memories together and make new memories in the future.

I hope you will consider my suggestions into account.

yours sincerly,

Arshdeep kaur

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response addresses the main requirements of the task by recommending baseball, explaining how to learn it through attending classes, and suggesting learning it together. However, some parts are only partially developed. While you recommend baseball and mention joining a game, the explanation of how your friend could learn it is quite brief and lacks specific details such as local club names or training schedules. Additionally, the response falls short of the required minimum length of 150 words, containing only 133 words. This lack of full development keeps the score at this level, as ideas need to be extended further to meet higher band descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The email has a coherent overall arrangement with a clear letter format, starting with an appropriate greeting and closing. You use basic cohesive devices to connect your thoughts, such as 'well', 'Lastly', and 'Also'. However, paragraphing is somewhat restricted, and referencing is not always clear, particularly in sentences like 'The reason behind is that you are already good in cricket and hockey then it will be suitable according to your interest,' where the logical transition between ideas feels a bit mechanical. To achieve a higher band, paragraph organisation should be managed more smoothly, and cohesive devices should be integrated with greater flexibility.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for the task, with some attempts at less common phrasing such as 'athletic person' and 'quality time'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors, including 'extremly' instead of 'extremely', 'sports' instead of 'sport', and the unnatural collocation 'stay as a fit and fiddle' instead of 'stay fit and healthy'. These lexical slips do not completely impede communication, but they restrict the score because precision and accurate word formation are limited. To improve, you should focus on accurate spelling and natural collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The text demonstrates a limited range of structures, relying mostly on simple sentences alongside a few basic complex attempts. There are frequent grammatical errors, such as missing articles ('an athletic person'), incorrect prepositions ('suggest into baseball'), and tense or agreement inconsistencies like 'you want to learn a new sports' and 'you already won a significant numbers'. These errors cause some difficulty for the reader and reflect a pattern of frequent mistakes rather than isolated slips. To reach a higher level, you need to produce a wider variety of error-free complex sentence structures with better control over articles and prepositions.

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

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