Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-10-01

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 ishan,

How are you? I hope you are doing well. I would like to congrates you first for winning a cycling competition , so sorry was not being there with you , my grandfather's health is not good so i have to stay with him in a village.I want to ask you that would you mind buying my that bicycle which you wanted for your next competition.

My fathers business is very slow i dont think so i will be back to city. I thought to ask you i would love to sell my bicycle.You can use it for your next race.I have changed some features in it such as colours which is your favourite red and black with a lion shade design, i also attached a water bottle stand.

It has all dynamic feature which you need for your cycling race has a strong tyre and handle with all the safety gadgets.However i will come to see you as soon as possible.miss you .

your friend rishab.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The letter successfully covers all the bullet points required in the prompt. You explain why you are no longer using the bicycle by mentioning that you are staying with your grandfather in a village because his health is poor and your father's business is slow. You describe the bicycle by highlighting the red and black lion shade design and the attached water bottle stand, and you explain why your friend would like it by noting that he wanted it for his next competition and race. However, while all parts are addressed, some ideas remain slightly under-developed, particularly the explanation regarding your current living situation and the specific features of the bike. To reach a higher level, you could expand more fully on the bicycle's technical specifications and provide a smoother, more detailed transition between your personal news and the sales pitch.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The letter maintains a reasonably coherent overall arrangement and follows a familiar informal letter format, beginning with a friendly greeting and ending with a sign-off. However, the logical progression between sentences and paragraphs sometimes feels mechanical or disjointed. For instance, the jump from your grandfather's health to asking if your friend wants to buy the bicycle happens abruptly without smooth cohesive transitions. Additionally, paragraphing is somewhat irregular, and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the pronoun use in the phrase 'buy my that bicycle'. To improve, you should use a wider variety of cohesive devices more naturally and ensure that each paragraph focuses clearly on a single, well-connected theme with logical progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common expressions relevant to cycling and personal correspondence, such as 'cycling competition', 'water bottle stand', and 'safety gadgets'. Nevertheless, there are noticeable lexical errors and spelling mistakes throughout the text, including 'congrates' instead of congratulate, 'colours which is' (agreement issue in word choice), and informal phrasing like 'business is very slow'. These errors do not seriously impede communication, but they highlight the limitations in your word choice and spelling control. To achieve a higher band, you need to use less common vocabulary with greater precision, improve your command of word forms, and eliminate basic spelling inaccuracies.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

Your writing displays a limited range of structures, relying mostly on simple sentences alongside a few attempts at complex forms, which frequently contain errors. There are frequent mistakes with punctuation, run-on sentences, capitalization, and verb tenses, such as 'so sorry was not being there', 'i dont think so i will be back', and missing capitalization for names like 'ishan' and 'rishab'. Prepositions and article usage also show frequent inaccuracies. Because these errors occur across many sentences and sometimes cause slight difficulty for the reader, your control is situated at this level. To progress, you need to practise forming more complex sentence structures accurately, pay closer attention to punctuation boundaries, and improve your overall command of verb agreement and tense consistency.

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

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