Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-08-20

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 4.0)

You recently attended a party, where you saw one of the guests being rude to a neighbour in the next house. Write a letter to the guest,

Complaining about their behaviour

Suggesting that the guest apologies to the neighbour

Asking them not to behave like this again

Dear Mr Smith,

I am writing this because of your behaviour at the party last night.

This party was meant to be peaceful, but the way you spoke to Mrs Smith was really disrespectful. She politely asked you to turned off the loud speaker. She is an old lady, and really deserves respect from all of us.

I do w

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 3.0

The response is significantly off-topic. The prompt required a letter to a friend about selling a bicycle, but you wrote a letter to a neighbor regarding a party incident. Furthermore, the response is incomplete, ending abruptly mid-sentence, and fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 150 words. Because the content does not address the task instructions provided, it cannot be assessed as a successful response to the prompt. To improve, ensure you read the task instructions carefully before beginning and aim to complete all bullet points while meeting the length requirement.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0

The letter is too short and incomplete to demonstrate effective paragraphing or logical progression. While you use a standard salutation, the abrupt ending prevents the development of a coherent structure. There is a lack of cohesive devices to link ideas, which is expected even in a short letter. To improve, ensure you have a clear introduction, body paragraphs that address each bullet point, and a concluding sentence. Using transition words like 'furthermore' or 'consequently' would help improve the flow of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 4.5

The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive. Phrases like 'really disrespectful' and 'really deserves' are simplistic and lack the range required for higher bands. There is little evidence of less common lexical items or idiomatic language. To improve, try to incorporate more precise adjectives and adverbs to convey your message more effectively. For example, instead of 'really disrespectful', you could use 'highly inappropriate' or 'unacceptable'. Expanding your vocabulary through reading and practicing synonyms will help you express your ideas with more sophistication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.5

The grammar contains noticeable errors, such as 'asked you to turned off', which should be 'asked you to turn off'. The sentence structures are simple, and the incomplete nature of the text makes it difficult to assess a full range of grammatical structures. While the meaning is generally clear in the sentences provided, the frequent errors and the lack of complex sentence structures limit the score. Focus on mastering basic verb tenses and infinitive forms, and then work on incorporating complex sentences using relative clauses or conditional structures.

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

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