Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-04
IELTS Writing Task 1 question
The parents of your Australian friend Chris have invited you to a surprise birthday party for him/her. Write a letter to Chris's parents. In your letter:
- say why you think Chris will enjoy the surprise party
- explain why you won't be able to attend the party
- give details of a plan to see Chris at a different time
You do NOT need to write any addresses.
Begin your letter as follows:
Dear Mr and Mrs Collins,
Student answer (Band 5.5)
Dear Mr and Mrs Collins,
I hope you are doing good.I think Chris will enjoy the suprise birthday party because he has not seen you from last 2 years and he always talk to me , it will be exciting if his parents celebrate his birthday with him this year.
I wish to attend the birthday party but my tourist visa has been expired and I am not able to travel to Austriala without having a valid visa.I have resumbit my application to Australian embassy to extend my visa but the embassy will take more than three weeks to process my visa application. So, It will be much difficult for me to attend the suprise birthday event.
One day me and Chris were talking about sophia. Chirs told me he will going to marry her next month. Hopefully, I will get my approval letter from Austrailan embassy and then i would love to meet Chris.
Your faithfully
Lovepreeet Singh
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
You successfully covered all parts of the prompt by explaining why Chris will enjoy the surprise, why you cannot attend, and providing a plan to see him later. However, the development of these ideas remains limited. For instance, while you mention that he has not seen his parents for two years and talks to you, this point is not fully extended. Similarly, the explanation regarding your visa status touches upon the requirements, but the details remain quite basic. To move towards higher bands, each bullet point needs to be more fully elaborated with extended supporting details, ensuring that the purpose and tone are consistently maintained throughout the letter.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
Your letter shows some logical organisation, with distinct paragraphs dedicated to the different parts of the task instructions. However, the overall progression of ideas feels somewhat disjointed. While you use basic connectors like 'so' and 'hopefully', referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the abrupt transition into mentioning 'Sophia' in the final paragraph without sufficient contextual linking. Cohesive devices are at times repetitive or overly mechanical. To achieve a higher level of cohesion, you should ensure that sentences and paragraphs flow more smoothly together, using a wider and more natural range of linking words to connect your thoughts and maintain a clear narrative progression.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
Your vocabulary is minimally adequate for the task, allowing you to convey your message, but the range remains quite limited. There are noticeable lexical errors and spelling mistakes throughout the text, such as 'suprise' instead of 'surprise', 'expired' where the passive structure needs care, and spelling issues like 'Austriala' and 'Austrailan'. You also rely on basic word choices such as 'doing good' and 'talk to me'. To improve your lexical score, you need to expand your range of vocabulary, incorporate less common items with greater precision, and pay closer attention to accurate spelling and natural word collocation.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
Your writing displays a limited range of structures, relying mostly on simple sentences alongside a few basic complex attempts that often contain errors. There are frequent grammatical mistakes, including tense and verb form issues such as 'has not seen you from last 2 years' instead of 'for', 'visa has been expired' instead of 'has expired', and missing articles or capitalization errors like 'me and Chris'. Punctuation and spacing issues are also present, such as missing spaces after periods. These frequent errors can occasionally cause difficulty for the reader. To progress, you should aim to use a greater variety of complex sentence forms with improved grammatical control and accuracy.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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