Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-08-10

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 sakshi,

I hope you are doing well. I am writing this letter regarding complaining about loud music noise from your apartment. I noticed loud noises from past few days and it disturbs me alot. The reason behind i am complaining to you is that my midterm exams are on the way and i have to study at night to prepare. It was very difficult for me to concentrate due to loud frequencies. Also, i am doing work at daytime so, study at night is the only solution for me to pass the exam with good scores.

To the solution, i recommend to listen the music at low volume so that it don’t affect my studies and i will do proper concentration towards my exam.

I hope this issue resolve as soon as possible.

Best regards

Sakshi

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The letter covers all three bullet points: describing the noise, explaining the impact on your studies, and suggesting a solution. However, the response is 13 words under the 150-word minimum, which negatively impacts the task achievement score. The ideas are relevant but somewhat underdeveloped; for instance, the explanation of why you are studying at night could be expanded to provide more context. To improve, ensure you meet the minimum word count by elaborating on your points, such as describing the specific type of noise or suggesting a more collaborative approach to resolving the issue.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter follows a logical progression, moving from the purpose of the letter to the problem and finally the solution. However, the use of cohesive devices is quite limited and sometimes mechanical. For example, the transition 'To the solution' is unnatural and does not effectively link the paragraph to the previous one. Paragraphing is also insufficient; the entire body of the letter is presented as one block, which makes it harder to follow. Using more varied linking words like 'consequently', 'furthermore', or 'in addition' would improve the flow and structure of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks variety and precision. You rely on basic phrasing such as 'loud noises' and 'good scores'. There are also some errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'regarding complaining' (which should be 'to complain about') and 'do proper concentration' (which should be 'concentrate properly'). To reach a higher band, try to incorporate more sophisticated vocabulary related to the context of noise complaints, such as 'persistent disturbance', 'academic performance', or 'mutually agreeable solution'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response contains a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors. Issues include missing articles ('at daytime'), incorrect verb forms ('listen the music' instead of 'listen to music'), and subject-verb agreement errors ('it don’t affect' instead of 'it doesn’t affect'). Additionally, there are punctuation and capitalization errors, such as the lowercase 'i' used throughout the text. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to lower the score. Focusing on basic sentence construction and proofreading for small errors would be beneficial.

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

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