Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-15

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 5.0)

Dear Saman,

I hope you are doing well.I am writing to shere some intrusting news with you. I am going to be visiting in your city for bussiness trip.My company give us a family trip for 3 days.

My company sending me over for 3 days for markiting network.The event runs from monday to wednesday my those days are busy.

I am planing to extend my stay trough the weekend.I would love to be their.Its my first time wisting in your city.What are the absoulute must see the landmark or the hidden game in the area?There are any local markit and old musiam that you suggest.

More then anything I would love to catch wile Iam in town

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The student has attempted all parts of the letter prompt: explaining the purpose of the trip ('business trip'), asking about things to do ('What are the absolute must see...'), and inviting the friend ('I would love to catch...'). However, the response falls significantly short of the 150-word minimum, containing only 118 words. Furthermore, some bullet points are underdeveloped, especially the invitation which trails off incomplete ('More then anything I would love to catch wile Iam in town'). Because the length requirement is not met, a penalty applies, resulting in a band score of 5.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The letter exhibits basic organisation with paragraph breaks, though the division is somewhat choppy and erratic, with single-sentence paragraphs. Cohesive devices are minimal and sometimes inaccurate ('My company sending me over for 3 days for markiting network.The event runs from monday to wednesday my those days are busy'). Logical progression between ideas is occasionally disrupted by abrupt transitions and incomplete thoughts, particularly near the end of the text. Paragraphing is used, but the overall structure lacks smooth flow and effective linking, placing it at a band 5.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is basic and limited, featuring frequent spelling and word-choice errors that detract from the writing. Examples of lexical errors include 'shere' for share, 'intrusting' for interesting, 'bussiness' for business, 'wisting' for visiting, 'markit' for market, 'musiam' for museum, and 'game' for gem. While the writer attempts some less common terms like 'extend my stay' and 'landmarks', the high density of spelling mistakes ('absoulute', 'trough', 'wile') and awkward collocations ('hidden game') impede readability and cap the score at a 4.5, rounded to 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writing contains a limited range of grammatical structures, predominantly simple sentences with frequent structural errors. There are issues with subject-verb agreement and tense consistency, such as 'My company give us' and 'My company sending me'. Punctuation and capitalisation errors are also prevalent, including missing spaces after punctuation marks ('well.I am', 'trip.My') and lowercase days of the week ('monday'). Complex structures are attempted but are either faulty or incomplete, such as the trailing sentence at the conclusion. These frequent errors cause some difficulty for the reader, fitting the descriptor for band 5.0.

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

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