Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-25

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 Sir or Madam,

I had recently confirmed my admission in Diploma course in the college. Currently, I had selected the Online Business Management course. This course is a part of my intrest and it is also related to my past studies.During the time of booking I was thinking just about getting Good job and being in a managerial position in ther company.

Eventually, I personally belive I should explore different course as well. As it can me to get Various information. Knowledge about different field, and even getting a perfect path way of career. Apart from that, in the world full of competition knowledge and skill is one of the most important thing.

So, i would like to cancvel my current booking for the course and looking to go with Diploma in Business Analytics. I want to learn some of the IT skills as well as want to be a great problem solver for the Multinational Companies.

I hope you take this Letter in the consideration, I will be waiting of the positive reply.

Your Faithfully

Rushi Patel.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response covers all parts of the task prompt adequately. You successfully mentioned the course you originally booked, explained why you need to cancel it, and asked about booking a different course (the Diploma in Business Analytics). However, the explanation for cancellation and the transition to the new course contain some slightly unclear reasoning and minor over-generalizations, such as 'knowledge and skill is one of the most important thing.' While the purpose of the letter is clear, the ideas could be developed with greater precision and relevance to fully hit a higher band. Overall, the communication of intent is successful, and all bullet points are addressed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The letter uses paragraphing reasonably well to separate the introduction, reasons, change of course, and conclusion. However, the logical progression is at times disjointed due to abrupt sentence structures, such as starting a paragraph with 'So, i would like to cancvel...' and fragmented sentences like 'Knowledge about different field, and even getting a perfect path way of career.' Cohesive devices are minimal and sometimes inaccurate or misused, such as 'Eventually, I personally belive'. Referencing is generally clear, but the overall arrangement feels a bit mechanical and lacks smooth transitional flow between sentences.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with attempts at less common items such as 'managerial position', 'multinational companies', and 'business analytics'. However, there are notable spelling errors ('intrest', 'belive', 'cancvel'), capitalization issues ('Good job', 'Various information'), and word choice mistakes ('can me to get' instead of 'help me to get', 'different field' instead of 'different fields'). These errors do not completely impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score to a Band 5.5 as they highlight a lack of precision and control over word forms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writing demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but grammatical control is inconsistent. There are several noticeable errors, including tense and auxiliary verb misuse ('I had recently confirmed', 'Currently, I had selected'), subject-verb agreement issues ('knowledge and skill is'), and punctuation errors. For instance, sentence fragments like 'Knowledge about different field, and even getting a perfect path way of career' lack main verbs. While the meaning remains understandable, the frequency of errors prevents the grammar score from reaching a Band 6.

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

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