Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-08-09

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You live in a small apartment building. You are frequently bothered by noise from your upstairs neighbour's apartment.

Write a letter to your neighbour. In your letter
• describe the situation.
• explain why it is a problem for you.
• suggest a solution.

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear _________,

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear Smith,

I am expressing my disbelief on regarding the noise I always hear from your flat in this letter. Therefore, I will definitely generate some useful facts to make understand about it.

The main concern remains constant everyday of making noise from your part, which I bothered to address you considerably. Moreover, whenever I usually go for sleep at night, the intolerable voice keeps me irritated and disturb me to be focus on late night work as well.

As I have leave for work early in the morning, meanwhile sleeping for only few hours. But unfortunately, as soon as the nighttime starts maybe the unacceptable noise occurred from your side, while distracting me from keeping my punctual life routine. As a result, if I give you opinion then try to lower down with putting some extra efforts towards it.

I hope you underestimate my issues and I am looking forward to your prompt response.

Best regards,

Dhaval Thakkar

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The letter addresses all three bullet points: the situation is described, the impact is explained, and a solution is proposed. However, the tone is inconsistent and occasionally aggressive, which is inappropriate for a formal or semi-formal letter to a neighbour. For example, phrases like 'I am expressing my disbelief' and 'I hope you underestimate my issues' (which likely means 'understand') create confusion and sound unnatural. While the task requirements are met, the development of ideas is hindered by awkward phrasing, making the intended message feel somewhat disjointed.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The letter is organised into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or misused. For instance, 'Therefore, I will definitely generate some useful facts' does not logically follow the previous sentence. Transitions like 'Moreover' and 'As a result' are used, but they do not always connect ideas effectively due to the underlying grammatical issues. The progression of ideas is present but feels forced, and the referencing is sometimes unclear, which impacts the overall flow of the letter.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is limited and frequently inaccurate. There are several instances of word-choice errors that impede clarity, such as 'intolerable voice' (instead of 'noise'), 'make understand about it', and 'punctual life routine'. The student attempts to use more complex vocabulary, but the collocations are often incorrect, such as 'generate some useful facts' or 'give you opinion'. These errors demonstrate a lack of precision, keeping the lexical range at a level where communication is sometimes strained.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The letter contains a high frequency of grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('noise occurred', 'disturb me to be focus'), tense confusion ('As I have leave for work'), and awkward sentence structures. While there is an attempt to use complex sentences, they are often faulty, which causes difficulty for the reader. Punctuation is generally functional, but the grammatical errors are persistent throughout the text. The majority of sentences contain errors, which prevents the writing from reaching a higher band score.

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

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