Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-10-03

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 Sumit

Hope your doing great.

Its been a while since we met. just want to share that I and my family has been doing great. In this letter I want to update you that I am suppose to have a business trip to your area in the next coming weeks. This trip is conducted to showcase our clients a catalog and beautiful monuments that we have close to that side.

Since we are coming in couple of days to visit there I would really appreciate if you could see the city and work as a guide to us as you have been familiar and living there from quite a long time. I thought you will be the best person as friend and as a guide. During our visit my company has organised the kid activities, fun and meal service. This trip is also suitable for family members.

Hence, I would like to invite you with us as I have already been asked by my office to get help from someone who is already there and aware of the surrounding there. it would be great help and more than that. we will have a chance to meet up you and family.

Thanks in advance!

Best Regards

Rekha

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, as you successfully explain the purpose of your upcoming business trip, ask about things to do and see, and invite your friend to join you. However, some areas are under-developed or lack clarity. For instance, while you mention showcasing a catalog and monuments, the explanation is slightly tangled and unclear. Similarly, the invitation and request for a guide are repeated across paragraphs rather than extended smoothly. To move to a higher level, you should fully develop every part of the prompt with greater clarity and precision, ensuring that all bullet points are elaborated upon naturally without redundancy.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The letter maintains a coherent overall arrangement with a clear beginning and ending, and you use appropriate paragraphing to separate your main points. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty. Phrases like 'In this letter I want to update you that' and 'Hence, I would like to invite you' feel somewhat unnatural and formulaic. Additionally, referencing is occasionally unclear, such as when you refer to 'that side' or 'visit there' without clearly establishing the exact location beforehand. To improve in this area, you should work on using a wider variety of smooth, natural cohesive devices and ensure that referencing between sentences is precise and easy to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is minimally adequate for the task, providing a sufficient range to communicate your basic message. You attempt some less common vocabulary items, such as 'showcase', 'monuments', and 'surrounding', but these attempts are accompanied by noticeable errors in word choice and collocation, such as writing 'conducted to showcase' instead of 'intended to showcase' or 'kid activities' instead of 'children's activities'. There are also minor spelling and punctuation slips, such as the lowercase 'i' in 'I and my family'. To achieve a higher score, you need to use a wider range of precise vocabulary with better control over collocations and natural phrasing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

Your writing displays a limited range of sentence structures, relying heavily on simple forms and occasionally attempting complex sentences that contain errors. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the letter, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('I and my family has been'), tense errors ('Hope your doing great' and 'I am suppose to have'), and prepositional errors ('familiar and living there from quite a long time'). These frequent errors can cause some difficulty for the reader. To improve, you should focus on mastering basic grammatical rules, including verb tenses, subject-verb agreement, and prepositions, while building better control over more complex sentence structures.

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