Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-30

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You live in a small apartment building with a parking lot in back, and you often cannot find an empty parking space when you get home from work.

Write a letter to your landlord. In your letter
• describe the situation.
• explain why it bothers you.
• suggest something the landlord could do to solve the problem.

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear ____

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear landlorf,

i am writing to bring your attention to a issue regarding to lack of space in parking back of the building. I live in 5th floor of the building flat no 57

Sir, i want to tell you about the parking on the back side of building. there are 87 flats in the apartment and every one have their own car or bike because vehicles are most important thing which we need to use every day.

I am here to tell you about the problem which i face from last one month. From the building 4 5 people buy their own car.when i come to home from office there is no space for me to park my car

I want to give you some suggestions related to this problem. First of all you need to extent the size of the parking and also create a separate parking place for the bikes

Thank you for giving the matter your attention and i hope to hear your reply soon

Your sincerely,

X,Y,Z

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The student has successfully addressed all bullet points outlined in the task prompt. The letter adequately describes the parking situation in the back of the building, explains why it bothers the writer due to the lack of available spaces after coming home from work, and offers clear suggestions for the landlord to extend the parking size and designate specific areas for bikes. The tone is appropriate for a formal letter of complaint to a landlord, although some parts are slightly repetitive. Overall, the requirements of the task have been fully met, placing this response comfortably at Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The letter exhibits a coherent overall arrangement with paragraphs separating the distinct points of the message, such as describing the problem, explaining the impact, and offering suggestions. However, Coherence and Cohesion are limited by poor paragraphing, weak transitions, and mechanical cohesive devices. Sentences are often stacked together with basic linking words or punctuation errors (e.g. starting new clauses without capitals or proper conjunctions). Referencing is sometimes unclear, such as the vague pronoun use. While the overall message is still logically organized and easy to follow, the lack of sophisticated cohesive devices keeps this criterion at Band 5.5.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the student to successfully communicate their everyday problem to the landlord. However, the lexical range is limited and contains noticeable errors in word choice and spelling, such as 'landlorf' in the salutation, 'issue regarding to' instead of 'issue regarding', and 'extent' instead of 'extend'. The student attempts some less common vocabulary items like 'bring your attention', but these are offset by basic repetitions and collocation inaccuracies. Communication is not impeded, but the presence of these errors points directly to a Band 5.0 level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control over grammar and punctuation is inconsistent. There are numerous punctuation errors, missing capital letters at the beginning of sentences (e.g. 'i am writing', 'there are 87 flats'), and grammatical slips such as 'every one have' instead of 'everyone has' and 'from last one month' instead of 'for the last month'. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to detract from the accuracy of the text, preventing the response from reaching a higher band. Therefore, a Band 5.0 is appropriate.

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

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