Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-03

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 friend,

Today I am writing this letter to let you know that I am making plan for business trip in your city .

I have been thinking about this business trip from last month ,but Due to heavy workload of regular meetings with staff, I did not get time to enjoy myself. Now i have decided to take some holidays to visit in your city by exploring some beautiful views. This trip is not for the business purposes. I just want to come to spend some quality time with you and wants to visit famous places of your city.

I just simply thinking what we will do during trip, if you will be free then we will be doing some fun activities like , river rafting, boating. I will also look some the hilly areas , which give us new experiences.

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Rrrr

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

You have addressed all three bullet points: the purpose of the trip, asking for recommendations, and inviting your friend. However, there is a significant contradiction in your letter. You initially state you are planning a 'business trip', but later claim, 'This trip is not for the business purposes.' This inconsistency makes the purpose of your visit unclear to the reader. To improve, ensure your ideas are consistent throughout the letter. While you have covered the requirements, the development of your ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive, which prevents the response from reaching a higher band.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter is generally easy to follow, but the paragraphing is weak. You have grouped almost all your ideas into one large paragraph, which makes the text look cluttered. Using clear paragraph breaks for each point (purpose, request for advice, and invitation) would significantly improve the structure. Additionally, the use of cohesive devices is quite basic. You rely on simple conjunctions like 'and' or 'but'. To improve, try using a wider variety of linking words such as 'furthermore', 'consequently', or 'in addition' to connect your sentences more fluidly.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is sufficient to communicate your message, but it is quite limited and repetitive. For example, you use the word 'trip' four times in a short space. There are also some awkward collocations, such as 'making plan' (should be 'making plans') and 'visit in your city' (should be 'visit your city'). To reach a higher band, you should aim to use more precise vocabulary and avoid repeating the same words. Try to incorporate more natural expressions related to travel and social plans to demonstrate a wider range of lexical items.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the letter that occasionally distract the reader. Common issues include missing articles ('the' business trip), incorrect verb forms ('wants to visit' instead of 'want to visit'), and punctuation errors, such as unnecessary commas and spaces before punctuation marks. You rely mostly on simple sentence structures. To improve, try to incorporate more complex sentence forms, such as using relative clauses or conditional sentences (e.g., 'If you are free, it would be wonderful if we could...'). Focusing on subject-verb agreement and article usage will also help improve your accuracy.

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

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