Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-04

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 7.0)

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing this letter to inform you about cancelling a part-time course I registered at your esteemed college a week ago.

I am an under- graduate studying Dental Assisting course at Conestoga Downtown Campus and currently on a 4 month winter break. Henceforth, I decided to pursue for a short term course to enhance my skills and keep me busy. I was browsing over the college website and came across a course called Healthcare Administration that was available for 4 months and without wasting time I rushed myself to book as only limited seats were available.

Little did I realise that the course I opted did not offer a provision to view recorded lectures. Also, I aacidently selected the Downtown campus making my commute very difficult, especially during the snow season. Keeping these factors in mind, I decide to cancel my online booking sooner than later.

I was wondering if I can be transferred to the Health and Sciences course instead at the Doon Campus. I verified at the website and the tuition fee remains the same avoiding the refund process. In addition, there are a couple slots available and the last day of registration is a week later.

I would really appreciate your assistance. Looking forward to connecting soon.

Yours faithfully,

Sam

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 8.0

The response covers all parts of the prompt well and presents a clear purpose from the beginning. You successfully mention the part-time course you booked, explain the reasons for needing to cancel, and ask about booking a different course. Your ideas are well developed with relevant details, such as the lack of recorded lectures and the commuting difficulties during the snow season. To reach the highest bands, these explanations could be extended even further with more precise situational context, but overall, your coverage of the task requirements is strong and fully satisfies the expectations for this level.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

Your letter shows a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. You manage paragraphing well, separating your introduction, reasons for cancellation, alternative course request, and sign-off into distinct, readable sections. Cohesive devices are used adequately, such as 'Henceforth' and 'Keeping these factors in mind'. However, some of your transitions and referencing could be smoother to achieve the highest level of cohesion. For instance, 'pursue for a short term course' contains awkward phrasing that slightly interrupts the flow, and connecting sentences more flexibly would elevate the overall structure of the letter.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task and attempt less common items like 'esteemed college', 'enhance my skills', and 'tuition fee remains the same'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'pursue for' instead of simply 'pursue', and 'aacidently' (spelling error) combined with 'selected the Downtown campus'. You also use 'a couple slots available' instead of 'a couple of slots'. These minor errors and occasional awkward word choices indicate that you are operating right in the middle tier for lexical resource, as you attempt ambitious vocabulary but occasionally lack full precision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

You display a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses like 'that was available for 4 months' and conditional elements effectively. There are some errors in grammar and punctuation, such as 'under- graduate' (hyphenation and spacing issue), 'the course I opted did not offer' (missing preposition 'opted for'), and 'I decide to cancel' (tense consistency error, as the rest of the narrative is past tense). These errors do not impede communication at all, and your meaning remains clear throughout. To move further up, you need to produce a higher frequency of error-free complex sentences and maintain strict tense consistency.

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