Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-03

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You recently booked a part-time course at a college. You now need to cancel your booking.

Write a letter to the college administrator. In your letter:

• say which part-time course you booked
• explain why you need to cancel your booking
• ask about booking a different course

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear Amit Arora,

I am writing this letter to request you about the cancelation of my course.

I recently enrolled in Medical Assistant course for my further studies which is starting from next week but due to a health issue I want to cancel the booking. Because yesterday I fell down from the stairs and my leg was broken. Doctor advised me fully bedrest. I cannot come to college to attend the classes. I am feeling very sad because I was very excited about my classes but unfortunately this happened to me.

I am requesting you to cancel this course and register me in the forthcoming semester. I really apologize to do this at very last moment.

Yours faithfully,

Jashanpreet Kaur

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response covers all three bullet points: identifying the course, explaining the reason for cancellation, and requesting a future booking. However, the response is significantly under the 150-word minimum requirement, which negatively impacts the development of ideas. While the tone is appropriate for a formal letter, the brevity prevents a fully developed response. To improve, you should expand on the details, such as providing specific course codes or dates, and elaborating on your interest in the future course to ensure the letter meets the length requirement and demonstrates a more comprehensive command of the task.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter follows a logical progression, moving from the purpose of the letter to the explanation and finally the request. However, the paragraphing is insufficient; the entire body of the letter is presented as a single block of text. Using clear paragraph breaks for each distinct point would improve the visual structure and readability. Additionally, the use of cohesive devices is somewhat limited, relying on simple connectors like 'because' and 'but'. Incorporating a wider range of linking words and phrases would help the ideas flow more naturally and improve the overall coherence of the response.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks variety and precision. You use basic phrasing such as 'fell down from the stairs' and 'my leg was broken', which are functional but not sophisticated. There are also some minor collocation issues, such as 'request you about' (should be 'request to cancel') and 'Doctor advised me fully bedrest' (should be 'advised complete bed rest'). To reach a higher band, focus on using more precise academic or formal vocabulary and improving your control over collocations to ensure your writing sounds more natural and professional.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally distract the reader. For example, 'I am writing this letter to request you about the cancelation' is awkward, and 'I really apologize to do this at very last moment' should be 'I apologize for doing this at the last moment'. There are also issues with article usage and prepositional phrases. While the meaning remains clear, the frequency of these errors limits the score. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and correct preposition usage will help improve your accuracy.

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

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