Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-17

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 sanket,

My name is Dipsa and i am your neighbour. i am writing this letter to inform you about i am observing some high noise from your apartment.

it is very difficult to work with this noise continuously and my husband works in a night shift however this harmful voice break his sleeps and disturbing his daily rutine.i am also doing my job from home while i am in meetings from your apartment continuous voice comes to my apartment and i also break my concentration from my work.voice of music is also to loud so it is difficult to work with this noisy environment.

I suggest that you can please down the volume of your music voice for morning to afternoon and i also advise you to keep your apartment clam so other apartments peoples can work easily with their daily rutine

i hope you understand my situation and i am also waiting for your warm response

yours faithfully

Dipsa

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student covers all three bullet points required by the prompt well. The letter describes the situation regarding high noise levels from the upstairs apartment, explains why it is a problem for both the husband working night shifts and the writer working from home, and successfully suggests a practical solution by asking the neighbour to turn down the volume of their music. The tone is appropriately semi-formal for a letter to a neighbour. Although the development is somewhat straightforward and contains minor repetitive elements, all parts of the task are fully addressed and clear throughout, aligning well with the Band 6.0 descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The letter maintains a coherent overall arrangement with a clear purpose established in the opening. However, paragraphing is underdeveloped, as the main body of the letter is compressed into one long, dense paragraph that addresses multiple points simultaneously. Cohesive devices are basic and sometimes repetitive, such as the frequent use of 'and' and 'while'. Referencing is generally clear, but the lack of proper paragraph breaks between the description of the problem, the consequences, and the solution limits the logical progression, placing this response solidly in the Band 5.5 to 6.0 range, warranting a Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, such as 'continuously', 'concentration', and 'environment'. However, there are noticeable lexical and collocational errors throughout the text, including 'high noise' instead of 'loud noise', 'harmful voice break his sleeps' instead of 'noise disturbs his sleep', and 'keep your apartment clam' instead of 'quiet'. These errors do not impede overall communication, but they restrict the lexical score. The use of basic and sometimes unnatural word choices means the response fits the Band 5.0 descriptor well.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response includes a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some attempt at subordination with words like 'while' and 'however'. However, there are frequent grammatical errors in punctuation, capitalization, and sentence structure, such as lower-case 'i', missing apostrophes, and awkward phrasing like 'i am observing some high noise' and 'music voice for morning to afternoon'. The majority of sentences contain minor structural or mechanical inaccuracies. While communication is not severely impeded, the high density of errors prevents the score from reaching Band 6.0, making a Band 5.5 appropriate.

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

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