Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-05

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 Mohit,

I am very happy to hear that you are showing interest for new game. By this letter, I will give you some suggestion which is compulsory for your before start anything.

I know your taste since childhood time. I remember You had keen interest in Cricket. In fact, some time you were telling a lie with you mother and hiddenly went a ground with your friends. So I think you should choose the Cricket.

I heared that there is a stadium in the back of your home and evening time there is a person who give the free coaching. Evening time you are also free from your study as well as you usually come in the ground during this time.

I am also planning to take part in the Cricket game and get coaching in the evening time. It is not only good for my health but also reduce my phone addiction habit. I think in this way we will also meet to each other and learn something new.

I will waiting for your response and schedule time.

Your lovingly,

Teenu Walia.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response successfully covers all requirements of the prompt. You have recommended a sport (cricket), explained how your friend can learn it through free coaching at a nearby stadium, and suggested that you both learn it together. The tone is appropriate for an email to a friend. Your ideas are relevant, though some parts, such as the backstory about childhood interest, are slightly under-developed or tangential compared to the main task points. To reach a higher band, all parts of the task need to be fully extended with more depth and clarity throughout.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter has a coherent overall arrangement, and your ideas are generally organized into logical paragraphs that cover the greeting, the recommendations, the joint plan, and the closing. However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For instance, transitions like 'By this letter' and 'In fact, some time' feel somewhat unnatural and clunky. To improve, you should use smoother referencing words and ensure that logical relationships between sentences are managed more naturally without relying on rigid transitional phrases.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

Your vocabulary is minimally adequate for the task, providing enough range to communicate your general message, but noticeable errors in word choice and collocation appear throughout. Examples include 'showing interest for new game' instead of 'in in a new sport', 'hiddenly went a ground', and 'phone addiction habit'. There are also awkward phrasings like 'schedule time'. These lexical inaccuracies and non-standard word formations mean the language sits at a restricted level. To progress, you need to expand your repertoire of less common vocabulary and pay closer attention to natural collocations and word forms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You use a mix of simple and some complex sentence forms, such as 'It is not only good for my health but also reduce my phone addiction habit.' However, there are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation, including missing articles ('start anything', 'choose the Cricket'), incorrect prepositions ('in the back of your home', 'give the free coaching'), and verb tense issues ('I heared', 'I will waiting'). While communication is not severely blocked, these persistent errors prevent the grammar from reaching a higher band. Using a wider variety of error-free complex structures would strengthen this criterion.

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

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