Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-10-11

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 John,

I am writing you this letter to express my concerns regarding the noise coming from your apartment which disturbs me mentally and physically every single day.

Since, past few months I had been struggling to find a job, after finally finding an decent job where I have to work at night, the noise from your apartment make it super hard to work with my colleagues via a call which could cause me to loose my job.

Lastly, I hereby request you to please keep the volume low and do all the chores, dance or music in the day. As I am an deep sleeper so I don't have any problems of noise during the entire day.

I hope that you may understand the concerns I face daily from the noise coming from your apartment which could cause me my future and I hope you take some actions on the problems I listed.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The letter addresses all three required points: it identifies noise from the neighbour’s apartment, explains that it disrupts your night-time work calls and could threaten your employment, and asks for quieter activities during the day. These details make the purpose clear and relevant. However, the situation is not described very specifically: the reader is not told what kinds of noise occur or when they usually happen. The proposed solution is also somewhat unclear, since “do all the chores, dance or music in the day” does not clearly distinguish between activities or specify a reasonable quiet period. Develop these points with a concrete example and a precise, considerate request to make the response more complete and persuasive.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The ideas follow a broadly sensible order: you introduce the concern, explain its effect on your work, and then make a request. This gives the letter an overall structure, and the closing restates why the issue matters. However, the progression between points is not always smooth. “Lastly” is an awkward transition into the solution, while “Since, past few months” makes the opening of the second paragraph difficult to follow. The final sentence repeats the concern rather than adding a clear closing step. Use paragraphing to separate the situation, its impact, and your proposed solution, and connect them with simpler, more natural transitions such as “Recently” and “Could we agree that…?”

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a reasonable range of vocabulary for the situation, including “express my concerns,” “disturbs me,” “colleagues,” and “take some actions.” The reader can understand that the noise is affecting your work and wellbeing. However, some choices are unnatural or imprecise: “disturbs me mentally and physically” is broad, “super hard” is informal for a neighbour’s letter, and “do all the chores, dance or music” is not a natural way to describe the activities. There is also a spelling error in “loose” where “lose” is intended. Choose more precise, polite expressions—for example, describe the noise as “loud music or footsteps” and say it “makes it difficult to concentrate during work calls.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response includes both simple statements and longer sentences, such as the sentence explaining how night work and noise affect your calls. The main message remains understandable, but some grammatical errors make parts less clear. For example, “Since, past few months I had been struggling” has faulty punctuation and tense; “an decent job” uses the wrong article; and “the noise … make it” has subject–verb disagreement. The sentence beginning “after finally finding” also needs clearer sentence structure, while “I am an deep sleeper” has an article error. Review articles, agreement, and tense consistency, and divide the long second paragraph into shorter sentences to improve control and readability.

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