Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-08-15

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You are planning a business trip to another city. You will have some free time to do some sightseeing while you are there.
 

Write a letter to a friend who lives in the city you will visit. In your letter:
• explain the purpose of the trip.
• ask about things to do and see in the city.
• invite your friend to do something with you during your visit.

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear ____

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear Gurdeep,

How are you,

i am writing about the business trip in Chandigarh. Actually, i want to go there for my cooking competition which is organised by my restaurant. Already my friend lived in Chandigarh so he has great knowledge about the attraction places where i will visit in my free time because this city is not only capital of Punjab but also its very beautiful. There are number of places of tourists like rock garden, rose garden and sukna lake.

Therefore, i am write a letter to my friend join a accompany of me when i will go there for my restaurant competition so we will do a lot of activities together like playing football, swimming and enjoy different kind of food. Thus, i will hope you are doing your whole work complete before visiting me there so, we will do different kind of activities and spend quality of time together, We meet with each other as soon as possible.

Your Lovely,

Gagan

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

You have addressed all three bullet points in the prompt: explaining the purpose of the trip, asking for recommendations, and inviting your friend. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, the invitation is a bit confusingly phrased, and the explanation of the trip purpose could be more clearly articulated. While the task requirements are met, the tone is occasionally inconsistent for a letter to a friend, and the flow of information feels slightly disjointed. To improve, ensure each bullet point is developed into a clear, distinct paragraph with more natural, conversational language.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter is organised into paragraphs, but the logical flow between sentences is often weak. You use some cohesive devices like 'Therefore' and 'Thus', but they are sometimes used incorrectly or feel mechanical, which disrupts the natural progression of your ideas. For example, the transition from discussing tourist attractions to inviting your friend is abrupt. Additionally, the referencing is occasionally unclear, such as when you refer to 'my friend' in the third person despite writing directly to Gurdeep. Improving the use of linking words and ensuring that your ideas follow a more logical sequence will help your writing feel more cohesive.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing you to communicate your main points. You use some topic-specific vocabulary like 'attraction places', 'tourists', and 'competition'. However, there are several instances of awkward phrasing and word choice, such as 'join a accompany of me' and 'attraction places', which are not standard English collocations. You also rely on basic vocabulary and some repetitive structures. To reach a higher band, focus on using more natural collocations and a wider range of descriptive language to express your ideas more precisely.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

You demonstrate a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Issues include incorrect verb tenses (e.g., 'i am write a letter'), subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'my friend lived'), and punctuation errors, such as the comma splice in '...visiting me there so, we will do...'. These errors occasionally make the text difficult to follow. To improve, focus on basic sentence construction, ensuring that your subjects and verbs agree and that your tenses are consistent throughout the letter. Proofreading for basic punctuation will also significantly improve the clarity of your writing.

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

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