Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-07-24

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You have a bicycle that you are no longer using. You would like to sell it to a friend.

Write a letter to your friend. In your letter
• explain why you are no longer using your bicycle.
• describe your bicycle.
• explain why you think your friend would like to have it.

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear _________,

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear sukhman,

i hope you are doing well. today i inform you i will sell my bicyle. Because next i will gone abroad that why i sell my bicyle. last month when i went to amritsar together u asked me that i looking bicyle on cheaper price.i sell my bicyle if you interested please inform me.The colour bicyle is all black.it is very good condition and moreover,the tires is new and one sound alarm top of the handle is also avaliable the is think most important like pandle is very smoth.my lot of memories stable on this cycle.when iwas study in my standard my grandfather gifted to me. that time i went to school on my bicyle. if you intrested can you please reply my this e mail.i looking forward your response.

yours sincerely,

robinpreet singh

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The letter covers all three bullet points: explaining why you are selling the bike, describing it, and suggesting why your friend would like it. However, the response is under the 150-word minimum requirement, which negatively impacts the task achievement score. The ideas are relevant but lack sufficient development to fully meet the requirements of the task. To improve, you should expand on the description of the bicycle and provide more detail about your upcoming move abroad to ensure the letter feels complete and meets the length requirement.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter lacks clear paragraphing, which makes the text appear as a single block. While there is a basic logical flow, the use of cohesive devices is very limited and often mechanical. For example, the transition between the reason for selling and the description of the bike is abrupt. To improve, you should use clear paragraph breaks to separate the introduction, the body points, and the closing. Additionally, try to use a wider variety of linking words such as 'furthermore', 'consequently', or 'as a result' to connect your ideas more smoothly.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is quite basic and repetitive, relying on simple terms like 'good' and 'important'. There are also several spelling errors, such as 'bicyle' (bicycle), 'avaliable' (available), 'pandle' (pedal), and 'smoth' (smooth). These errors occasionally make it difficult for the reader to follow your meaning. To reach a higher band, you should focus on using more precise adjectives to describe the bicycle and ensure you are using correct spelling for common words. Expanding your vocabulary to include more descriptive phrases will help make your writing more engaging.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response contains frequent grammatical errors, particularly with verb tenses and sentence structure. For example, 'i will gone abroad' should be 'I am going abroad', and 'the tires is new' should be 'the tires are new'. There is also a lack of punctuation, with many sentences running together without proper capitalization or full stops. The range of structures is limited to simple sentences. To improve, focus on subject-verb agreement and ensure that every sentence has a clear subject and a correctly conjugated verb. Practicing basic sentence punctuation will also significantly improve clarity.

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