Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-10-04

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 Ayesha

Hello .How are you, hope you are good in health.I am going on 3 day business trip in your city.It been few years we have not spend time together.After my meeting we should make some plan to hang out for atleast two days.We can go for museum or zoo visit.We can also go for ferry ride.I want you to make good memories with me .I want to remember this time for ever.You should come over to hotel where i am staying.We can see movies, enjoy ice cream and can have dinner together.After all you are my best friend.And friend never lie .We can also go see monkey town

as well.I hope you read this email and are extremely excited just like me.See you soon

Thank You

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response only partially addresses the prompt requirements. While it attempts all three bullet points by mentioning a business trip, asking about sights, and inviting the friend to hang out, the ideas remain limited and under-developed. For instance, the purpose of the trip is stated very briefly as a '3 day business trip' without expanding on the context, and the sightseeing suggestions like 'monkey town' or a 'ferry ride' are simply listed without elaboration. Furthermore, the length requirement is not met, as the response contains only 128 words, falling short of the 150-word minimum. To reach a higher level, you should fully develop each bullet point with more details, background information, and explanations, ensuring you also meet the minimum word count.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The letter shows some organization, but there is no clear overall progression of ideas, and the paragraphing is largely absent. Instead of structured paragraphs, the text consists of a single block with disconnected sentences thrown together. Cohesive devices are either inadequate, inaccurate, or overused, and referencing is sometimes unclear, as seen in abrupt shifts from discussing the hotel stay to 'friend never lie' and then to 'monkey town'. To improve, you need to group related ideas into logical paragraphs and use appropriate cohesive links such as 'consequently', 'furthermore', or 'meanwhile' to guide the reader smoothly through the letter.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited and minimally adequate for the task. There are noticeable errors in word choice and spelling, such as 'It been few years' instead of 'It has been a few years', and repetitive phrasing throughout the letter, like starting multiple sentences with 'We can'. Although the meaning can generally be understood, these lexical limitations and spelling slips cause some difficulty for the reader. To achieve a higher score, you should incorporate a wider range of less common vocabulary, use precise collocations, and carefully check your work for basic lexical and spelling errors before submitting.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

There is a very limited range of sentence structures, relying mostly on simple, repetitive patterns like 'We can go for...'. Attempts at slightly more complex structures or variations are frequently faulty, leading to missing articles, incorrect prepositions, and verb form errors. Examples include 'good in health' instead of 'good health', '3 day business trip in your city' instead of 'to your city', and missing plural forms like 'go for museum'. Frequent grammatical errors are present and can cause some difficulty for the reader. To improve, focus on mastering basic sentence construction, using correct articles and prepositions, and incorporating a greater variety of error-free complex grammatical forms.

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

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