Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-13

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You let a friend stay at your apartment while you were away on a trip. When you returned home, you discovered that a valuable possession was broken.

Write a letter to your friend. In your letter
• describe the broken possession.
• explain why it is important to you.
• explain what you would like your friend to do.

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear _________,

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to inquire about a short-term course offered by the college. I am particularly interested in the Gentle Approach course.

I am particularly keen on this course because I would like to improve my professional skills. I have read the course outline and understand that it mainly focuses on gentle approaches to managing emergency situations in healthcare.

Could you please provide me with detailed information regarding the tuition fees and schedule? Since I have been taking cookery classes since the beginning of this year, I would prefer to take this course online.

If there is no option available for online classes, I would like to receive information about student accommodation. Moreover, I would greatly appreciate it if you could let me know the earliest available start date.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours faithfully,

Sandeep

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 3.0

The student failed to address the task prompt entirely. The prompt required writing a letter to a friend about a broken valuable possession left behind after staying at an apartment, describing it, explaining its importance, and stating what the friend should do. Instead, the student wrote a formal inquiry to a college about a short-term course, completely missing the scenario, audience, tone, and bullet points of the task. Additionally, the response falls short of the 150-word minimum by being 1 word under at 149 words. Because the content is entirely off-topic for the assigned task, a low band score of 3.0 must be assigned for task achievement.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

Despite being completely off-topic for the prompt, the letter follows a logical paragraph structure. The writer uses clear paragraph breaks to separate the introduction, specific inquiries, online/accommodation alternatives, and conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'Moreover', 'Since', and 'If' are used reasonably well to connect ideas within sentences and paragraphs. However, referencing is flawed due to the mismatch with the prompt's context (e.g., mentioning cookery classes out of context). Overall, the internal organization of the text is coherent, but the severe task failure limits the score.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range suitable for a formal inquiry letter. Phrases like 'inquire about a short-term course', 'detailed information regarding the tuition fees', and 'greatly appreciate it' show an appropriate register and a fair command of vocabulary. However, there are instances of unnatural collocation or context, such as mentioning cookery classes abruptly. Spelling is accurate throughout the text. The lexical resource is sufficient for a band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 7.0

The response features a good mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including conditional clauses ('If there is no option available...') and participial clauses ('Since I have been taking...'). Grammatical accuracy is generally high, with correct punctuation and verb tenses used appropriately throughout the letter. The errors are minimal, and communication is never impeded by grammatical slips. The grammar comfortably meets the requirements for a band 6.5 or 7.0.

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

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