Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-29

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,

Iam writting this letter to let you know about the cancellation of my course, which i booked earlier because, iam applying in a part time program.

I have enrolled in a part time digital marketing program , this will help me to learn more about the development of websites, artificial intelligence and much more. Nowadays, inflation rates are very high. It will helps me alot in part time work as a freelancer after the completion of course.

The main reason behind the cancellation is my job. I go to my workplace at morning till 12pm. Moreover , the part time program timing is 3pm to 5pm.

Furthermore, i want to ask from you that the information about few more courses, so it will help me in freelancing. This lead to get a good clients in my workplace.

I hope to hear back you very soon with the concerns regarding the courses.

Your faithfully, john.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response covers all three bullet points required by the task instructions. The student states the specific course booked ("digital marketing program"), explains the reason for cancellation due to a conflict with their working hours, and asks about booking alternative courses for freelancing. However, some ideas are slightly under-developed or tangential, such as the sudden mention of inflation rates. The tone is mostly appropriate for a semi-formal request to a college administrator. Overall, all parts of the prompt are addressed adequately, placing this response at Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter is organised into distinct paragraphs, attempting to separate the introduction, the cancellation reasons, the inquiry about alternative courses, and the sign-off. Cohesive devices are used, such as "Moreover", "Furthermore", and "The main reason behind the cancellation". However, some referencing and linking are mechanical or slightly awkward, such as "This lead to get a good clients". Paragraphing is also a bit disjointed, with single-sentence paragraphs affecting the overall flow. Progression is visible, but cohesion has minor faults, fitting the Band 5.5 to 6.0 profile well. A score of 6.0 is appropriate.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, including terms like "cancellation", "enrolled", "freelancer", and "workplace". There are several word choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as "iam applying in a part time program" instead of applying for, and "It will helps me alot" with grammatical/spelling slips. Spelling and capitalization errors are present ("iam", "writting", "john"). Less common vocabulary is attempted with some inaccuracy. This demonstrates the characteristics of Band 5.0 lexical resource.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as relative clauses ("which i booked earlier") and conditional ideas. However, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including capitalization and punctuation issues ("Dear sir,", "Iam writting", "i booked"), subject-verb agreement errors ("It will helps"), and tense inconsistencies. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent the text from reaching a higher band. This corresponds to a Band 5.0 performance.

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

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