Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-12

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 5.0)

Dear Joshua,

I hope you're doing well. I'm writing because I'd love to invite you to spend your weekend at Squamish by a lake. I have rented a house nearby for birthday weekend.

Let me give you some blueprint of the house. Basically, its a three- bedroom suit with wodden material. It is more likely a glasshouse surrounded by trees and river.You will feel very pleasant when you wake up the next morning.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0

The response only partially addresses the requirements of the prompt and falls significantly short of the minimum word count of 150 words, containing only 73 words. While the student successfully invites the friend and provides a brief opening description of the house, the third bullet point regarding how time is being spent is entirely omitted. Additionally, the description of the house and the details surrounding the stay remain heavily under-developed due to the truncated length. To achieve a higher band score, the writer must ensure all bullet points from the task instructions are fully covered and adequately expanded upon while meeting the required word count.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The letter maintains a basic level of coherence overall, beginning with an appropriate salutation and opening sentence. However, the organization is hindered by a lack of proper paragraphing and development. The second paragraph abruptly lumps multiple ideas together, and the transition between sentences is sometimes mechanical. Referencing and cohesive devices are minimally used. While the text remains readable, the lack of sufficient length and extended text prevents the demonstration of logical progression and flexible paragraphing expected at higher bands.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates a basic vocabulary range suitable for simple communication, attempting words like "blueprint", "suite", and "wooden". However, there are noticeable lexical errors and awkward collocations, such as writing "its a three- bedroom suit with wodden material" instead of suite and wooden, as well as spelling mistakes like "wodden". The range of vocabulary is limited and restricts the student from expressing ideas with precision, leading to some difficulty for the reader in fully grasping the intended imagery of the lake house.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response features a very limited range of grammatical structures, relying primarily on simple sentences. There are notable grammatical and punctuation errors, such as the missing apostrophe in "its", incorrect spacing before punctuation marks, and awkward phrasing like "It is more likely a glasshouse". While simple sentences are occasionally accurate, attempts at more complex structures are absent or poorly controlled due to the short length of the text. Errors do not completely obscure meaning, but they are frequent relative to the volume of writing.

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

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