Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-08-31

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You have rented a house by a lake for the summer.

Write a letter to a friend. In your letter
• describe the house.
• describe how you are spending your time there.
• invite your friend to come and visit.

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear ____

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear Kalu,

I recently leased a beautiful house near the riely lake for this summers. The house is very big about 1000 square feet and it has a beautiful patio with a small garden at the back along with all the basic amenities, Just across the road there is the lake.

Since i like swimming so much i am loving this house. I love to sit on the shore of the lake and do coding in that peaceful area. The locals here are very friendly even they help me with some move in stuff.

I would like you to take a visit for my house on this weekend for a visit. I also have a mini raft so we can do do some river rafting and play other water sports.

Your Faithfully,

Aryan Saini

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The letter covers all three bullet points: describing the house, explaining how you spend your time, and inviting your friend. However, the response is 134 words, which is below the 150-word minimum requirement. This under-length significantly impacts the development of your ideas. While the description of the house and your activities is relevant, the ideas are somewhat thin and lack the necessary detail to fully satisfy the task requirements. To improve, you should expand on your descriptions—for example, by adding more sensory details about the house or elaborating on the specific water sports you enjoy—to ensure you comfortably meet the word count.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter is organized into logical paragraphs, which helps the reader follow your message. You use basic linking words like 'Since' and 'also' to connect ideas. However, the flow is occasionally interrupted by awkward phrasing, such as 'even they help me with some move in stuff.' The transition between the description of the house and your daily activities is functional but could be smoother. To reach a higher band, focus on using a wider variety of cohesive devices (e.g., 'furthermore', 'consequently', 'in addition') to create a more natural and sophisticated flow between your sentences and paragraphs.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is generally adequate for a personal letter, but it is somewhat repetitive and basic. Phrases like 'very big' and 'beautiful house' are functional but lack precision. There are also some minor collocation issues, such as 'take a visit for my house' (should be 'visit my house') and 'move in stuff' (which is quite informal). To improve, try to incorporate more descriptive adjectives and precise nouns to paint a clearer picture for your friend. Expanding your range of vocabulary will help you express your ideas with more nuance and impact.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures. However, there are several grammatical errors that occur throughout the text, such as 'for this summers' (should be 'for the summer'), 'i am loving' (stative verb usage), and 'do do some river rafting' (repetition). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with comma splices and capitalization of 'i'. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to affect the overall clarity of your writing. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and consistent tense usage will help improve your accuracy.

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

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